Culture has a special historical and social significance in
Slovenia. It was primarily thanks to their culture and their
common language of Slovene that the people of Slovenia were able
to forge themselves into a nation and survive. Language and
culture have for centuries compensated Slovenes for the lack of
their own state and political institutions. Slovenia is one of
those rare countries, if not the only country in the world,
where a day of culture is a national holiday. In honour of the
poet Slovenia’s national day of culture is 8 February, the
anniversary of the death of its greatest poet, France Prešeren ,
whose wonderful works from the first half of the 19th century
are a supreme example of European romanticism. One such work is
A Toast , now Slovenia’s national anthem. The relevance of
Prešeren’s poetry played a role in the creation of the first
real national political programme, which helped to forge the
Slovenian national identity. The annual Prešeren Prizes are the
highest awards for the most impor