On the 20th of November 2017 in the assembly hall of the Museum of M.I. Kutuzov in the Slovak village Rishnevets a scientific and practical conference on the movement of the Russian army under the direction of Marshal Kutuzov in 1805 on the territory of modern Slovakia was held.
The Kutuzov Museum was opened on the initiative of the leader Karol Labosh in 2012 in the historical building, where the headquarters of the Russian army was located. After the heavy defeat of the anti-Napoleonic coalition in the Battle of Austerlitz, now it is the city of Slavkov on the territory of the Czech Republic, in December 1805 the Russian army retreated to the east. Slovak scientist Ivan Mrva provided archival documents confirming these facts.
According to historical documents and eyewitnesses' reminiscences, Russian soldiers fought bravely and staunchly. The army numbered 45 thousand soldiers and 6,5 thousand horses. It was cold and soldiers spent nights on the ground. There were a lot of wounded soldiers and also there was a lack of food.
The first stop of the army was in the city of Golich, then the route passed through the settlements of Petrova Ves, Senica, Sobotishte, Chachtkov and Mokriy Gai. Sick and wounded soldiers were placed in hospital in Senica and in the hospital of the village of Glbokoye.
Part of the army operated under the direction of Kutuzov moved to east through Senica, Rishnevets (December 18-19), Nitra, Vrabla, Levice, Shagi, Luchenets, Rimavskaya Sobota, Koshice, Preshov and Bardiev. Local people met Russian soldiers very warmly and with respect, offering food and warm clothes to them. The inhabitants of Nitra supplied the soldiers with food for 200 thousand daily portions of food and wine, as well as forage for horses for a total of 168 thousand zlotih.
All these historical facts were presented by historians of the two countries on the basis of archival documents. A solid delegation of scientists, employees of museums, public associations and descendants of Kutuzov came from Russia. Interesting reports were presented by the staff of the Maloyaroslavetskiy Military History Museum, the State Museum-Reserve "Borodino Field" from the city of Mozhaisk, the Panorama Museum "Borodino Battle", the Union of the descendants of the participants of the Battle of Borodino and the Historical and Patriotic Association "Bagration".
Interesting reports, the reality stories about what has happened, a discussion about the role of the Russian army in the victory over Napoleon's army and personally about the role of Marshal M.I. Kutuzov, reised a genuine interest.
The Russian center in Bratislava of the European Foundation of Slavic Literature and Culture presented its role at the conference in the opening and support of the museum. The conference was attended by staff and teachers of the center, who collected materials for conducting seminars on Russian language. The guests of the conference were offered magazines "Russian World.ru".
Within the framework of the conference the second meeting of the heads of cities and villages, which were on the way of the movement of the Russian army, was held. The reports were made by Slovak historians, museum workers, heads of administrative centers of Slovakia.
At the end of the conference, the participants and guests were presented with a literary and musical composition dedicated to the Patriotic War of 1812, prepared by the soloist of the State Opera in Banska Bystrica, laureate of international competitions - Elena Shatokhina.