DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL ACCEPTS GIFT OF STATUARY FROM SLOVAKIA
Press Release
DSG/SM/16
HQ/586
DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL ACCEPTS GIFT OF STATUARY FROM SLOVAKIA
19980924 Following is the statement of Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette at today's Headquarters unveiling by Foreign Minister Zdenka Kramplova of the Statuary of St. Cyril and St. Methodius given by the people and Government of Slovakia: Thank you, Ms. Kramplova, for those informative and inspiring remarks. With this unveiling, the United Nations has many reasons to be grateful to the people and Government of the Slovak Republic, for the donation of this statue is a gift to the United Nations three times over.First, it is a gift of a masterpiece of great power, created by an artist who for three decades has taken as a leitmotif two remarkable brothers, St. Cyril and St. Methodius. Second, it is a gift because it enriches this house of many nations with a permanent symbol of the young Slovak Republic; a nation born not out of bloodshed but through a process of democratic and peaceful transition. How fitting, too, that this unveiling should take place in the vicinity of what we know as the Viennese Cafe: after all, Bratislava is only a slow boat's ride down the Danube from Vienna. And so, today, we see a piece of the veritable heart of Europe here at the United Nations. Third, it is a gift because what these two patrons of Europe did for humanity more than a thousand years ago was a precursor to some of the most important work our Organization carries out today. Look at St. Cyril, to whom we still owe an entire alphabet. Look at his brother Methodius, whose wisdom, values and faith made him an inspiration for greater human understanding. On the eve of the second millennium, both were pioneering emissaries in the field of education and literacy, in the service of the dissemination of knowledge, and, indeed, in the cause of what we today understand as human rights. As we stand on the threshold of the third millennium, all of these areas are central to the work of the United Nations. In this fiftieth anniversary year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, remembering the lives and work of these two brothers from Thessaloniki deepens our conviction that human rights belong to no culture, no age, no nation; that they are truly universal and belong to people everywhere. The two brothers even had names that carry meaning for us today -- for as you know, Cyril was also known as Constantine. As we look upon Methodius and Constantine while we go about our daily jobs in this house, let them stand as a reminder to us all to strive to be methodical and constant in our commitment to our work and in the continuity of our mission. I thank you all. * *** *