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Ceremonial Opening

Photos from the ceremony »

On Tuesday, 31 May 2016, at 11 a.m., in the presence of ambassadors and political and cultural figures of the Czech Republic, the Lidice Gallery in Lidice hosted the formal opening of the 44^th INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN’S EXHIBITION OF FINE ARTS LIDICE 2016 featuring the theme SCHOOL? EDUCATION!

There were among the guests Minister of Education, Youth and Sports Kateřina Valachová, Minister for Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Jiří Dienstbier, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Chancery of the Ministry Ivana Červenková, Deputy Minister of Culture for Cultural Heritage Vlastislav Ouroda, Secretary-General of the Czech Commission for UNESCO Karel Komárek, Program Coordinator at the Czech Centres Ljuba Svobodová, Director of Foreign Relations Department of the Ministry of Culture Petr Hnízdo, Member of the Central Bohemia Regional Council Responsible for Culture and National Heritage Zdeněk Štefek and Director of the Agrofert Foundation Zuzana Tornikidis. As for the representatives of the diplomatic corps of the participating countries, the event enjoyed the presence of the ambassadors of Estonia, Luxembourg, Latvia, Macedonia, Mexico, Moldavia, Morocco, Turkey and Venezuela and representatives of the embassies and foreign institutes of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Mongolia, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia and Thailand.

From the early morning, children were treated to varied side events - art workshops in which children were able to create cyanotype prints, guided by Dmitry Rubinshteyn from the Gallery Zahradník, juggling performances and workshops by Vojta Vrtek, a specimen of a genuine Mongolian yurt from the Small Museum of Asia in Ledce, entertaining games prepared by the Leisure Centre Labyrint Kladno, a demonstration of work of volunteer firemen from Hřebeč and horse and carriage rides. The prize-giving ceremony itself started at 11 a.m. with dances and songs by the children's choir of the International Chinese School in Prague and with fanfares by Karel Vencour. Then, having welcomed all the present, Director of the Lidice Memorial JUDr. Milouš Červencl briefly acquainted the audience with the facts and figures of this year's edition and thanked all organisers, collaborators and sponsors of the exhibition. After that, having greeted the audience, Minister of Education, Youth and Sports Kateřina Valachová gave a short address, followed by Deputy Minister of Culture for Cultural Heritage Vlastislav Ouroda. Afterwards, Minister for Human Rights Jiří Dienstbier and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Chancery Ivana Červenková joined Ms. Minister and Mr. Deputy Minister to present prizes to 55 medallists from Czech schools – 'Rose of Lidice' medals and certificates as well as material gifts, e.g. sports sacks with the exhibition logo on them, for each medallist a mug with their award-winning picture imprinted on it, books from the publishing house Nakladatelství Albatros, art supplies by Nielsen and Faber-Castell and the award-winning picture made into a cardboard jigsaw puzzle from the Atlas Advertising group.

The second half of the prize-giving ceremony saw a change in the presenters. Secretary-General of the Czech Commission for UNESCO Karel Komárek, Program Coordinator at the Czech Centres Ljuba Svobodová and Chairman of the Expert Panel of Judges Josef Zedník came on the stage to present medals to foreign entrants at first - a medallist from Slovakia (Art School Trenčín) and a medallist from Bulgaria and his teacher (Sofia, Prikazen Svjat). Then the highest prize – the Prize of the Panel of Judges for a Czech school – was presented, this year to the Private Primary School Sedmikráska from Rožnov pod Radhoštěm for its consistent, purposive and high-quality work with children; the school had sent in a rich collection of spatial and areal works that is fully comparable to collections from art schools. Three medallists from that school came to receive their prizes and the main prize – a crystal palette from Rückl Crystal glassworks – was handed over to Headmaster Pavel Sumec. Director of the Agrofert Foundation Zuzana Tornikidis presented to the headmaster a financial reward of CZK 10,000 for their outstanding work with children. Then the Prize of the Panel of Judges for a foreign school should have been presented to representatives of an Indian school from Hyderabad. However, the winners of the award were late (their flight planned for the day before had been cancelled and their arrival shifted to the next day, i.e. the day of the ceremonial opening. Paradoxically, they arrival was rescheduled to the very moment they were expected to receive their prize on the stage. The issue of the delay was explained to all the present and the curator asked for permission to present the prize to the school representative directly in the exhibition hall as soon as they arrived at Lidice from the airport. Then it was proceeded to announce the winners in five categories, whose works had been put to the vote on the web server Alik.cz to win a special children's prize. The winners were the following: Filip Ittner (AS Most, Moskevská street), Rozálie Peterová (AS Kolín), Pavlína Vrátilová (T. G. Masaryk Primary School Opava), Sára Ostaševski (AS Mšeno) and Filip Albert Hannich (Primary School Červené Pečky). Receiving 247 votes, Filip Ittner from AS Most became the overall winner. The Certificates and gifts were presented to the winners by Zuzana Tornikidis, the director of a co-operating organization, the Agrofert Foundation.

After the prize-giving ceremony finished and a group photo of all winners was taken, the guests were invited to the opening and a tour of the exhibition on the second floor of the Lidice Gallery. In front of the Lidice Gallery, they were welcomed again by the children's choir of the International Chinese School in Prague singing a Chinese song and Karel Vencour with a flourish of trumpets. After the cutting of the ribbon (by the medallists from PS Sedmikráska Rožnov pod Radhoštěm and the then child survivor of the Lidice tragedy Marie Šupíková), upwards of 700 visitors could see more than 1,300 items by children from the four corners of the world. To the delight of all the present, a few minutes after the ribbon was cut, the expected guests from India arrived and shortly afterwards they received the highest award for a foreign school directly in the exhibition hall among the guests of the preview. The medals and the Prize of the Panel of Judges for Foreign School were presented to the students (A. Shreetej and Mounika Reddy) and a teacher of the award-winning Indian school Young Envoys International in Hyderabad, Ms. Padma Bommareddy, First Secretary of the Indian Embassy Kamal Parvez, Minister Jiří Dienstbier, Deputy Minister Ivana Červenková and Director of Agrofert Foundation Zuzana Tornikidis. They received the Prize of the Panel of Judges for their thematic and visually rich collection of colour prints, taking into account its consistent and significant successes and long-term participation of this school in the competition.

After several editions experienced rain throughout the event, this year the weather turned fine – it rained only till 9 a.m. Then the weather cleaned up and the sun shone till the opening of the exhibition. All guests enjoyed the event and the exhibition very much.

The exhibition will take place in Lidice till 30 November 2016. After that, Art School Most, Moskevská street, as well as other locations in the Czech Republic and abroad will follow as a venue for a selection from the exhibition.

Invitation for the ceremonial opening

LIDICE MEMORIAL

cordially invites you to the ceremonial opening of

the 44th International Children's Exhibition of Fine Arts 2016

featuring the theme SCHOOL? EDUCATION!

on Tuesday 31 May, 2016 at the Lidice Gallery in Lidice

Programme of the opening:

8.30  Entertainment programme for children in the Lidice Gallery garden:

• art workshop conducted by Dmitry Rubinshteyn ( Art-residence Zahradník)
• juggling performance and workshop by Vojta Vrtek
• presentation of a real Mongolian yurt (The Little Museum of Asia, Ledce)
• presentation of SDH Hřebeč volunteer firemen
• games prepared by the Labyrint leisure centre, Kladno
• horse-and-carriage rides, weather permitting

11.00  Award presentation ceremony for the Czech and invited foreign laureates in the garden of the Lidice Gallery; the children's choir of The Chinese International School of Prague and Karel Vencour's fanfare will appear at the event

12:45  Opening and a tour of the 44th exhibition

The opening is free of charge

Please confirm your attendance by phone on 736 642 318 or by e-mail to kasalicka@lidice-memorial.cz not later than 26 May 2016.

The exhibition is to be seen on the 2nd floor of the Lidice Gallery from 1 June till 30 November 2016, daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., in November to 4 p.m.

The exhibition is organized under the auspices of

Minister of Culture of the CR

Minister for Foreign Affairs of the CR

Minister of Education, Youth and Sports of the CR

Director General of Czech Centres

Chairman of the Czech Commission for UNESCO

Venue

Památník Lidice, Lidická galerie, Tokajická 152, 273 54 Lidice

Transportation

By underground line A, station Nádraží Veleslavín and by commuter bus A56 (to the bus stop Lidice and then walk to Lidice gallery), or A22 (to the bus stop Lidice, Obecní úřad – Lidice town hall, which is just in front of the Lidice gallery), line Prague – Kladno.