Bálint Balassi memorial plaque in Zvolen
Literary
In 1994, the anniversary year of the birth and death of Bálint Balassi, poet and soldier who fought in the Ottoman Empire, the Palóc Society's initiative to commemorate Balassi was embraced by Slovak and Hungarian state bodies. The director of the Hungarian Institute in Bratislava, Szilvia Sunyovszky, took a major part in the organization. Thus, on June 15, the central memorial ceremony took place in his birthplace, in the Zvolen Castle, which serves as a museum, where the bronze relief depicting Bálint Balassi by sculptor Pál Kő was handed over by the State Secretary for Culture and Public Education, on behalf of Minister Ferenc Mádl, to the State Secretary of the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic, the Mayor of Zvolen and the representative of the Slovak National Gallery operating in the castle. The unveiling was followed by a festive program and wreath-laying ceremony with the participation of numerous local, Hungarian and Hungarian institutions and private individuals from the Highlands. ; Related events, celebrations: Occasional wreath-laying ceremonies for tourist groups.