Altum is a cultural and educational center that is being planned for the outskirts of Bratislava, Slovakia. The site of the new center will be the bucolic village of Slovensky Grob. The purpose of Altum is to host conferences, educational courses, lectures, workshops and spiritual retreats that will help participants grow in Christian and human virtues. It will foster an intellectual and moral environment that provides Christian education. The long-term objective is to help each participant mature and become a better person. The site of Altum is on 15 acres of land or 6 hectares. The proposed conference center is designed to host 35 people at a time and will include a library, a classroom, a chapel, sports facilities and a garden.
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The name Altum was chosen because it means “depth” in Latin. It is the hope of Altum’s organizers that every participant in the center’s activities will “go out into the deep” to discover what is true, good and most beautiful. Christian and spiritual education and formation in the center is entrusted to the Personal Prelature of the Catholic Church – Opus Dei, whose spirit is based on sanctification of oneself through professional work and through the fulfillment of everyday duties of the Christian life.
In today's hectic society no one bothers to ask questions like: "Why am I here? What is the meaning of life? Why is the world existing in the first place?", or questions like "What is the purpose of my life and how should I live it?" Probably there are two main reasons why we do not ask ourselves such questions. The first is probably the fear of finding out that our purpose is very shallow like pleasure, money or confort. The second reason can be that we do not consider these questions as "scientific" any more, we do not consider that they can be answered, because we can not "measure" or proof the answers as true or false. In any case, all of us believe that we want to be happy, that happiness is somehow what we whan to achieve, but what does it mean? Even for such questions we can find the systematic scince, called logic and philosophy. Every person is unique and different and answers to these questions can be different, but do we want to at least set up on the jurney? Do we want to search for the answers? We spend tremendous amount of time in our lives in schools and studies to gather the knowledge and expertise for our profession to be successfull in our life, to be able to take care of ourselfs and others. But should not we act the same way when such important questions of our life are at stake? We should also devote time and effort to study these matters.
The confererence center Altum want to be such a place, where people can search and study answers to those most important questions in clomplete freedom, in the form of lectures, discussions and workshops, but mainly by organizing retreats, where in the time spent alone in silence, in a pleasant environment where it will wait for you nice room and delicious food. People are searching answers for these questions for ages, and we can't avoid it either. We do not have to build on sand or on the empty field. after all, we have classic, time-tested ideas and works that we can study, subject to criticism, meditate on and, if they are true, accept them as our own. Aristotle said that virtues are the foundation of a happy life. People of different opinions and religions will more or less agree on this. But it is really so, why, which virtues, which religion and why. Altum wants to be a place that lets you search for the truth. But do you believe that the truth exists, do you want to look for it?
Human is only beeing, when born not camable of anything and have to learn everything. Beast when born can walk within a few hours, human need one year. Beast knows how to gather the food or make a nest or den within a few months or year, while human need to learn and study almost 20 years to take care of himself and others. Human and animal body are similar, but our spirit/soul/reason is kind of disconected from the body at the begining and have to connect and tame the body to create all nerve connection to be able to master and control the body. Whether we like it or not human is really the body and soul and needs time, relations and mainly love to develop, trive and learn hove to become human. Since early times, the best place for person to evolve and develop is family. Family, where each person is loved not because of his/her status or ability but because of person itself. Family is natural environment for every person to form, develop and learn virtues in every day life and in all curcumstances and challenges which life brings.
The Altum Center wants to be a place that will help educate the family, husbands, fathers, mothers and children in how to develop marital love, the father-son relationship, to provide children with the formation that parents desire. To educate and build a family and relationships based on time-proven values and approaches, but not to be afraid of changes in the way of life and society and to adopt and develop what is good and true from the past and today. Activities in the center will take place in the form of lectures, courses and clubs. Here we would like to build on the already existing activities of the Family Enrichment, which organizes courses for spouses and young people in the form of case studies. Other activities are the Dowina center, which organizes father-son meetings, as well as the Gerlach club for boys or the Ister center, which organizes clubs for girls.
Profit is often synonymous with successful business. If the company has profit, growth and customers, then it is successful. These three factors are certainly important and also tell whether the company is "healthy" in its own way. However, profit, growth and a growing number of customers can also be achieved by opening a casino or creating some kind of pyramid scheme. However, the question is whether I bring any value to people or companies, whether my business has a purpose or whether it just makes money. Does this business make me, my employees, customers and the world better and more beneficial? Every business, even in the past and more and more now, needs a strategic plan, a vision or purpose both externally and internally. Only then can the company be truly successful. After that, profit, growth and the number of customers are just factors, important factors that show whether the vision makes sense and whether the company is healthy.
The Altum Center does not aim to sharpen a new economic theory of companies, there are specialized schools for that, but it wants to organize lectures, seminars and workshops where some aspects of virtuous leadership, business with purpose, the importance of optimal work will be discussed - all this on based on relevant studies and research. In addition, the Altum center also wants to organize lectures and discussions on the social teachings of the Catholic Church.
Building of the center will cost about 3 million euro. The center owns 15 acres of land and has finished Schematic and Design phases of the project. As of today € 150,000 have been raised. Please help us to support the project.
To start building
15% of the goal reached
Regular monthly contribution to support the project and later loan installments
33% of the goal reached
IBAN: SK51 0200 0000 0031 5395 3156
Bank: Všeobecná úverová banka, a.s. – Mlynské nivy 1, 829 90 Bratislava, Slovakia
Account in the USA:
Bank Name: JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.
Bank address: 270 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017
ABA #: (For Domestic Wires) 021000021
SWIFT Code: CHASUS33
Beneficiary Name: Association for Cultural Interchange, Inc.
Beneficiary Account #: 107505205
Details/Information: Donation for Altum Slovakia
Contribution by check:
Please include a note specifying your support of Altum Slovakia and the donor’s name, postal address and email.
Please mail your check to:
Association for Cultural Interchange, Inc.
420 Lexington Avenue, Suite 300,
New York, NY 10170
Contribution by wire transfer:
Please send an email message to info@culturalinterchange.org with the following information: transfer date, amount, purpose (“Donation for Altum Slovakia”), donor name, postal address and email.
Please send us a message if you are interested in the project.
