Danish Cultural Institute and Czech Center would like to invite you to former Czech Republic's Ambassador in Denmark, Zdenek Lyčka's lecture titled Greenlandic myths and legends - Wednesday, March the 4th at 6 p.m.

Myths and legends have always been an integral part of the lives of the Inuit people inhabiting the rough Arctic area. During the long polar nights or while trapped by foul weather on a journey, forced to stay in one place for a longer period of time, the hunters used to tell stories to each other. Many of the stories explain how the Sun, the Moon and the stars originated, why nature is the way it is, and why various animals look the way they look.

 Most greenlandic myths were collected and translated into Danish by well-known Greenlandic-Danish polar explorer Knud Rasmussen (1879-1933). From his famous Myter og Sagn fra Grønland (Myths and legends from Greenland), vol. 1-3 1921-1925 and published posthumously in 1981 r. Inuit fortæller: grønlændernes sagn og myter (Inuit says: myths and legends of Greenlanders), vol. 1-3, Czech anthology Grónské mýty a pověsti (Greenlandic myths and legends) translated by Viola Somogy and Zdeněk Lyčka was created. The book got published in 1998 (second edition in 2007) with characteristic illustrations by Martin Velíšek, which we present at the exhibition. Velíšek's grotesque illustrations interpreting the Inuit's ancient world of imagination has gained popularity not only in Czech Republic, but also in other places all over the world.

 Information on the lecturer:

Dr Zdeněk Lyčka (1958) graduated from the Technical University of Ostrava (Systems Engineering) and from Charles University in Prague (Modern Philology, Danish-English). Before the Velvet Revolution he worked as a programmer, in 1990 he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1991-96 he worked at the Czechoslovak (Czech) Embassy in Copenhagen, in 2008-13 he served as the Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Denmark. Since 2014 he’s been a Director for Strategy and Development at the Czech Centres, the MFA agency for promotion of the Czech Republic abroad. He translates Nordic and Anglo-American literature and writes his own texts. Together with Viola Somogyi, he was honoured with the Creativity Award within the Josef Jungmann Prize 1998 for the translation of Geenlandic Myths and Legends by Knud Rasmussen. He published tens of articles and essays on Nordic, cultural and ex-patriot topics in Czech, Danish, Greenlandic, Swedish and American media. In the summer, he paddles on a sea kayak. In the winter, he is engaged in cross-country skiing. He attended Vasaloppet in Sweden fourteen times. In 2010, he attended the Arctic Circle Race in Greenland. In 2011, he crossed the Geenlandic Ice-cap on skis. In 2014, he paddled from Prague to the North Sea on a sea kayak.

www.dik.org.pl