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ICEFA Prize Awards 2014 - Vietnam, Hanoi
30. 11. 2014
On November 11th, 2014 the Czech and Slovak Embassies in Vietnam jointly held an unveiling ceremony of a memorial plaque placed on the Children‘s Palace in Hanoi. Our embassy maintains regular cultural contact with the Children‘s Palace and each year many of the art students take part in Lidice‘s International Children‘s Exhibition of Fine Arts. The palace building was financed and built by Czechoslovakia in 1974 as a part of the country’s then socialist help program. At that time it was the tallest structure in Hanoi, as well as the first lift-equipped building there. The purpose of the construction was to create a children and youth centre combined with a public art school based on the Czech model, unknown in Vietnam up to that time. This institution was to offer a range of cultural activities, including fine art, music and dance education and its building located in the heart of Hanoi has been serving this purpose to this day as it offers art education to over 28 thousand children a year.
In Hanoi, this large building is generally seen as an important symbol of friendship between Vietnam and the Czech and Slovak Republics; its conference room is titled “The Vietnamese-Czechoslovak Friendship Room”. However, up to recently an official memorial plaque depicting the building’s origin was missing. Therefore the embassies of the Czech and Slovak Republics agreed to have a panel made and to hold an unveiling ceremony on the occasion of the Slovak Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Miroslav Lajčák’s visit to Vietnam (November 4th-5th, 2014).
Concurrently, the Czech Embassy decided to combine the unveiling with the ICEFA Lidice 2014 award ceremony. This year 70 works from Vietnam were sent to Lidice and Ambassador Mr. Martin Klepetko handed out 8 awards to the most successful children.
Attendees included the Slovak Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Slovak Ambassador to Vietnam Igor Pacolák and staff of the Czech and Slovak embassies in Hanoi. The nation of Vietnam was represented by the Deputy Chairman of the People’s Commitee of Hanoi, the Head of the Hanoi Friendship Associations, and the Children‘s Palace Director. There were also more than a hundred of children and their parents. The Children‘s Palace provided a dance and singing performance of a children‘s ensemble. Minister Lajčák approached the Children‘s Palace leaders with a contribution of 5.000 Euros to be used on new computers for the IT training room.
Karel ŠROL, Deputy of the Chief of Mission
