“Do you know which animal can survive the longest under an avalanche?”
Just a moment before the headmistress asked this question to a group of four students from the Litomyšl Literary–Drama Department, a petite girl walked into the Tatra art school. She was greeted not only with a smile, but also with a warm embrace.
“It’s the marten.”
“The marten?” our students asked in disbelief, while the headmistress continued to hold the unknown girl with her right arm.
“This little girl is Kunová. Her father’s surname is Kuna (Marten) and he works for the Mountain Rescue Service. Not so long ago, he was buried by an avalanche and survived under it for fifteen minutes. A mountain stream saved him — he fell into it headfirst and the flowing water brought him oxygen. His colleagues found him only because he was upside down and they noticed the soles of his skis. And that’s how life is here.”
Life in the High Tatras is different. Beautiful, surrounded by nature and its dangers. The local art school is different too, led by the wonderful headmistress Silvia Bombarová Zoričáková. The school operates in four villages — Dolný Smokovec, Tatranská Lomnica, Vyšné Hágy and Ždiar. There are dozens of kilometres between them. For teachers, it’s not easy — daily travelling and hours on the road. But students from across the Tatras have a remarkable opportunity to study art, no matter which corner of the mountains they come from.
Here, people are genuinely kind. The mountains they grew up in seem to connect them. The headmistress guided us through all the school’s branches and villages, and everywhere we went, we were greeted with open arms. Everyone knows each other by name and they’re all very close.
This mobility project was significant from several points of view. Travelling to Slovakia might not seem as exotic as more distant destinations, but the High Tatras offered us a truly powerful and authentic experience of life in this uniquely beautiful and specific region.
The main goal of this mobility was completely new and unexplored for us. Usually, students visiting a foreign school are presented with a programme prepared by the host teachers. This time, it was different. Our Literary–Drama students prepared workshops for the local art school.
They worked with the youngest children aged 6–7, focusing on language differences and jointly creating fairy-tale stories. For older students aged 13–14, the workshop centred around the play The Visit by Friedrich Dürrenmatt — the same play our students are preparing as their annual production. A huge thanks and admiration belong to them — for taking on a role that was more pedagogical than artistic, and doing it absolutely brilliantly.
We are deeply grateful for the opportunity to get to know this beautiful region and to try something unconventional in our studies.
Finally, our thanks go to everyone who took care of us:
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headmistress Silvia Bombarová Zoričáková and her daughter Yvonn — for their care and wonderful food,
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teacher Kristína Miková — for giving us the opportunity to run workshops for her students,
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the owners of Villa Horček — for the amazing accommodation,
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Miroslav Bombar — for excellent hamburgers,
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Jozef Ondrejko and Iveta Šestáková — for a great lunch,
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the Krasuľa family — for a delicious dinner in a breathtaking place,
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František Hlaváček — for another wonderful lunch.
Thank you all — for introducing us to the Tatras, for the beautiful culinary experiences, and for showing us your school community.
Filip Janouch
