Changes in Cultural Strategy and Cultural Policies in Slovakia in the 20th Century and at the Beginning of the 21st Century: Museums and Other Memorial Institutions in a Socio-Political Context

Abstract

This paper deals with cultural strategy and cultural policies in Slovakia in the 20th century and changes in these areas after the socio-political transformations in the 1990s. It describes cultural strategy and policies through different important stages – the period preceding the establishment of Czechoslovakia in 1918, the interwar period, the Slovak Republic (1939–1945), a brief period after the Second World War (1945–1948), the communist regime before “normalization” (the 1950s and 1960s), the communist regime during “normalization” right up to the fall of the Iron Curtain (1970–1989), and the transformative period from 1990 to the present day. This paper is focused on perceptions of museums and memorial institutions by the public. It explains the ways in which public policy affected museums, and how museums and museum associations could influence international, regional, and national policies concerning cultural institutions. This paper seeks to present the laws regarding museums that have formed the legal framework of institutionalization and the existence of museums and memorial institutions and that have established the basic rules for public authorities that manage museums and associated financial matters in Slovakia.