Rector of SUA Opened the Exhibition November 1989 at the University of Agriculture in Nitra
13.11.2025
On 12 November, Rector of the Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra (SUA), Assoc. Prof. Klaudia Halászová, opened the exhibition “November 1989 at the University of Agriculture in Nitra” in the foyer beneath the SUA Aula.
The exhibition was organized to mark the Day of the Struggle for Freedom and Democracy and the International Students’ Day, both celebrated annually on 17 November. In her opening speech, Rector Halászová highlighted that thanks to the events of November 1989, we live today in a free and democratic society. She invited all students and employees to visit the exhibition, which will be open until the end of November.
Thirty-six years ago, on 17 November 1989, a wave of events in former Czechoslovakia swept away the totalitarian regime. The Velvet Revolution was initiated by students — including those from the then University of Agriculture in Nitra. The exhibition recalls these historic moments through newspaper clippings from the university’s biweekly Poľnohospodár and archival photographs. The posters display, among other items, the Declaration of the Students of the University of Agriculture in Nitra, in which they protested against the violent suppression of a peaceful student demonstration in Prague, demanding the resignation of political leaders responsible for the state of the country and the organization of free elections.
During the opening ceremony, songs of November 1989 were performed, and the exhibition was symbolically inaugurated by the jingling of keys — a gesture that became one of the most powerful symbols of the Velvet Revolution, expressing people’s rejection of the communist regime.
On this occasion, Rector Klaudia Halászová also granted a rector’s day off to all students and a day of leave to university staff on 17 November.
