Accompanying Programme

Friday 31 May 2002

On the evening of Friday 31 May, there will be a performance of The Legend of the Sunken Bell on Lake Bled below the Grand Hotel Toplice at approximately 10:00 pm. The presidents will watch the performance from the hotel terrace.

The legend of the "wishing bell" at Bled

They say that if you ring the bell of the church on the island of Bled and make a wish, your wish will come true if you trust the "Lady of the Lake".

A legend says that a young widow once lived in the castle at Bled. Her husband had been killed by bandits, who threw his body in the lake. Inconsolable, she collected all her silver and gold and sent it to be cast into a bell for the chapel on the island in his memory. But it never reached the island. A terrible storm struck, sinking the bell, which to this day is said to ring from the depths of the lake. After this tragedy, the heartbroken widow sold all her possessions and donated the money to pay for a new church on the island. She went to a convent in Rome, where she lived in sorrow until her death. After she died, the pope consecrated a new bell and sent it to the island of Bled.

Saturday 1 June 2002

On the morning of Saturday 1 June the presidents will visit Bled's renovated municipal building - Villa Zora. The ceremonial unveiling of a fountain will follow, marking the occasion.

Villa Zora - the Bled municipality building

In the 19th century Bled developed into an important holiday, health, tourist, diplomatic and cultural centre. Many villas and parks were erected by the lake. One of them was Villa Zora, currently Bled's municipal building and the wedding hall.

The building's location is exceptional, as it offers spectacular views of Bled's key features: the island, Mount Triglav and the castle. The villa's appeal is enhanced by its surrounding park, which was designed on the threshold of the 20th century by the greatest park designer in Austria-Hungary, the Viennese architect of Swedish descent Karel Gustav Svensson. The park was designed to blend in with the architecture of Villa Zora, its surroundings and the lakeshore. The dominant space in front of the villa's festive steps was reserved for a fountain, of which only a few images remain.

The Ninth Meeting of the Presidents of Central European States offers a suitable opportunity and occasion to erect a new fountain in place of the former one.

The fountain at Villa Zora

At the centre of the fountain's stone basin stands a bronze model of Triglav in the form of a ring - a symbol of perfection, eternity and trust. Triglav is the highest mountain in Slovenia and a figure from Slavic mythology.

The bronze model was created by academy sculptor Slavko Oblak, who is actually from Bled and who now works in Landshut, Germany. The fountain was designed by the architect Klemen Rodman and set in place by the architect Tomaz Schlegl.

The fountain, a symbol of the source of life whose shape is reminiscent of a stylised water lily (the flower of Lake Bled), will be a special feature of wedding ceremonies for everyone that gets married at Bled.

Triglav - a mythological Slavic deity

Triglav is a deity with three heads (tri glave is Slovene for "three heads") with which it simultaneously looks back on the past, studies the present and gazes into the future.

Following the ceremonial unveiling of the fountain, the presidents will visit the castle at Bled.

The castle at Bled

In addition to the lake itself with its island in the middle, Bled's other remarkable feature is its castle, perched upon to a solitary rock rising steeply to the north of the lake. It was first mentioned in 1004, when the German Emperor Henry II presented the estates of Bled to the Bishops of Brixen to be managed by their vassals. The originally Romanesque castle has been rebuilt several times. The interior is adorned with trompe l'oeil frescoes dating from around 1700. The castle was renovated under the supervision of Anton Bitenc between 1951 and 1961. Today it houses a museum tracing Bled's rich and colourful history from the Bronze Age to the present day including artefacts from Slavic graves, suits of armour and a collection of furniture spanning several eras.

The panorama of the lake with the island and the castle on its solitary rock has become a Slovenian tourist icon.

GOVERNMENT PUBLIC RELATIONS AND MEDIA OFFICE © 2002