SNP Museum receives over €3m in EU funding for refurbishing and restoring its premises and memorials

Working side by side with the Slovak Ministry of Defence, the Slovak National Uprising (SNP) Museum Banská Bystrica has received €3.322m from the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIFs). The funding will go towards refurbishing and restoring the Cultural Heritage Sites (CHS) inherently linked to WW2's Slovak National Uprising: the SNP Museum & Memorial and the burn-out village of Kalište.

The technical tender documentation is now being drafted before the refurbishment and restoration works to the sites are put out to tender. The priorities of the project include replacing windows on both sides of the Museum's building, fixing and insulating the roof, and replacing the tiles, as well as restoring Kalište to its original state.

On safeguarding national heritage, Defence Minister Jaroslav Naď said: “It is our duty to preserve our heritage sites for next generations, just as the SVK Government has committed to in its Governmentʼs Manifesto. Thatʼs why we are immensely pleased that the SNP Museum, an architectural icon of Banská Bystrica, and the village of Kalište – both recognised as Cultural Heritage Sites – will finally undergo significant restoration.”

It is for the first time in history that the Museum has secured such a large pot of EU funds for its heritage projects, Jaroslav Naď added.

The funding will allow the CHS sites, as Director of the SNP Museum Marian Uhrin himself put it, “to be restored to a condition and appearance befitting the historical significance of the Slovak National Uprising”.