Ambassador Peter Kmec and Friends of Slovakia co-sponsored a lecture on October 8 at the Slovak Embassy by Dr. Edward Toran of New York City. Dr. Toran is an expert on art history, architecture, and interior design and currently works at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He came to the United States after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. During his career in the United States, he designed architectural interiors for leading U.S. corporations and for 15 years was in charge of interior architectural space management for MetLife.
Dr. Toran presented a fascinating illustrated lecture on the history of the development of cities and city architecture in Central Europe, particularly in Slovakia. He explained the factors that influenced the rise and character of cities including their location on major trade routes like the Amber Route and the liberalizing impact on society of the move from rural to city life.
The lecture was given to a large and highly appreciative audience of Friends of Slovakia members and others interested in Slovakia in general and architecture in particular. Five U.S. Foreign Service officers in language training prior to assignment to Slovakia attended as well as members of the Slovak American Society of Washington, the Carpatho-Rusyn Society of Washington, and members of the diplomatic corps.