Specific Forms of the Safeguarding and Showcasing of Cultural Heritage as Part of Tourism in the High Tatras

This study describes a variety of approaches to communication by museums involved in cultural heritage exchange. It focuses on the High Tatras region, which is the most important centre of tourism in Slovakia. It also looks at the specifics of how tourism developed in the region. The data was collected over a multi-year series of ethnological field research trips, and primarily conducted by means of structured interviews, oral histories and participatory observation. The paper concentrates on shifts in the area of museum communication, from the classical interpretative approach towards exhibitions that present their subject matter in a more flexible way, with a focus on emotional experience.The article aims to use some chosen case studies of small, independent museums and galleries from the town of Vysoké Tatry, in the High Tatras, to highlight the importance of sustainability, especially in terms of the growth of tourism.

Shrinkage of the tarns in the High Tatras (Slovakia, Poland)

This paper assesses the shrinkage of glacial lakes in the High Tatras by analysing the series of historical and actual orthophotomaps from 1949 to 2018. The shoreline dynamics during this period were established by detailed retrospective remote sensing, and the decrease in the former surface of the water was caused by intensive interaction between morphodynamic processes and the lake basins. Herein, we have identified 38 tarns with an assumed decline in the area. This assumption was based on a comparison of initial visual analysis of the historical aerial photographs and the current orthophotomaps which capture all High Tatras tarns. We selected ten tarns with the largest or most representative changes and performed detailed cartographic analysis on them. We also attempted this analysis over shorter periods whenever possible and herein we established from 2.5 to 32.2% decrease in lake water surface area during the monitored period. This decrease in shallow lake basins was accompanied by the presence of accumulated debris flows, fine fraction fluvial-proluvial deposits, and vegetation. The shallow glacial lake basins are sensitive indicators of irreversible changes in their catchment areas and this study, therefore, highlights the effectiveness of combining detailed orthophotomaps and historical aerial photos and GIS tools in researching glacial lakes shoreline dynamics in the alpine landscape. Retrospective shoreline analysis facilitates the assessment of the effects of morphodynamic processes on the development of tarns from the postglacial period until today.

Estimation of Basic Geometric and Hydraulic Characteristics of Natural Torrent Beds

Many mountainous regions and their watersheds lack the mathematical description of their hydraulic geometry such as the High Tatras region in Slovakia. Therefore, the aim of the paper is to determine the geometric and hydraulic characteristics of natural torrent beds and to propose a regional equations of mountain watersheds for the High Tatras region. In the paper is also proposed a new equation to determine the relationships between the watershed area and the geometric characteristics of flow profiles. Derived regional equations can help in nature-friendly and ecological shaping and dimensioning of channel cross sections in torrent control designing. The research was conducted in 26 natural torrents and their watersheds on the reference sections and profiles under the sediment source zones. Two different regression equations to determine the regional relationships (hitherto used without asymptote and newly proposed with asymptote) were compared. The analyses showed a strong correlation relationship between watershed area Aw (km2) and bankfull geometric characteristics of natural cross-sections: width of the channel inside the banks Bbf (m), mean channel depth Hbf (m), channel cross-section area Abf (m2) and hydraulic characteristic – bankfull discharge Qbf (m3.s-1). These relations were tested by t-test and Shapiro-Wilk test. The determination coefficient (R12) for the relationships without asymptote ranged between R12 = 0.919 and R12 = 0.972; p1 – values from Shapiro-Wilk test ranged between p1 = 0.0359 and p1 = 0.8027. The determination coefficient (R22) for the relationships with asymptote ranged between R22 = 0.952 and R22 = 0.974; p2 – values from Shapiro-Wilk test ranged between p2 = 0.0221 and p2 = 0.8617. At the same time, we tested and confirned the hypothesis that the correlation coefficients R1 from equation without the asymptote are only randomly different from the correlation coefficients R2 from equation with the asymptote and the difference between these coefficients is also random. Derived regional equations make it possible to the gradual creation of hydrologic landscape regions in the SR. They can be also used as a valuable input to the ecological cross sections designing in torrent control and revitalization for the regions with a similar natural conditions.

Kultúrne dedičstvo – ekonomický zdroj rozvoja turizmu, či odraz kultúrnej identity?

The paper focuses on the issue of cultural heritage and tourism in the area of the High Tatras that are located in the Spiš region – one of the most significant historical and cultural centres of Slovakia. The study points out the aspects of presenting to the visitors the traditional cultural values of this region that are in socio-cultural and economic contexts. Moreover, we monitor the adequate forms of interpretation of those values in the present conditions of tourism. We aim at the usage of socio-cultural capital of the city in the perspective of sustainable development in the European area. The contribution copes with the long term ethnological field research, which is, predominantly, the basis for the synthesis of the results, and that is completed with the bibliography sources. The main intention of the origin of villages in the Tatra region (spas and tourism), ethnic and social reference of their founders are the essential factors for our conclusions. Those factors have conditioned and influenced many cultural specificities of the inhabitants concerning their identity and cultural roots. This phenomenon is the important determinant of the values of cultural heritage exchange, mainly towards the external visitors of the High Tatras.

Társadalom és névhasználat. Magyar névtani kutatások Szlovákiában

Society and name use. Hungarian onomastic research projects in Slovakia. A summary of a habilitation dissertation The aim of the habilitation dissertation is to provide insight into the Hungarian-related onomastic research projects in Slovakia; into the relationship between society and name use; and into the contact phenomena arising from the connection between the Hungarian and the Slovak languages in the world of proper names. The dissertation consists of ten chapters that are thematically inter-related; however, they discuss the subjects of society and the use of proper names, the name use of Hungarians in Slovakia, the impacts of the Hungarian-Slovak bilingual environment on proper names from various aspects. The chapters also deal with several issues from the history of onomastic scholarship as well as onomastic terminology. The chapters deal with the topics as follows: (1) The place of onomastics in the system of linguistics and co-sciences and a review on the research domains of socio-onomastics focusing on the relations between society and name use; (2) The history of onomastic research projects in Slovakia; (3) A comparison of Hungarian and Slovak (Slavic) onomastic terminology; (4) The characteristics of the minority name policy in Slovakia after the change of the political regime; (5) Proper name standardization and name planning in the native language in Slovakia; (6) The identity-making function of proper names, the relationship between name and identity; (7) The change of fashion in giving first names in Slovakia; (8) Contact phenomena in the use of personal names of the Hungarians living in Slovakia; (9) The semiotic landscape of names in the Hungarian-inhabited settlements of Slovakia; (10) The Hungarian–Slovak pairs of mountain names in the High Tatras in the light of bilingualism and translation.

Update on selected topics in acanthocephalan parasites research

The respectable community of parasitologists aimed at the broad-spectral research of acanthocephalan parasites met at the 9th Acanthocephalan Workshop. The workshop took place in the beautiful surroundings of the High Tatras, Slovakia in the Congress Centre Academia, Stará Lesná near Tatranská Lomnica on September 9 - 13th. This special event was hosted by the Slovak Society for Parasitology, the Institute of Parasitology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Košice, Slovakia, and the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Czech Republic. It consisted of nearly three dozen lectures presented by distinguished acanthocephalan specialists who came from 13 countries and five continents. Vibrant discussions and creating new plans for future collaborations were accompanied by local mountain touring that offered the venue richly endowed with nature, deep forests and beautiful mountains. The contributions were addressed to resolve current systematic, taxonomic, biological, behavioural, ecological, and related topics. Presented results showed the most recent progressive developments comparable with all the other parasitic worm groups. The 10th Acanthocephalan Workshop will be hosted by Dr. Marie-Jeanne Perrot-Minnot, Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, Bourgogne, France, in 2022.