Last year, the old silk factory became the cultural station, which activated local community in the oldest part of the city – Almaš neighbourhood. It contributed to the cultural scene in the city by offering the possibility of new space and different content.  The Svilara Cultural Station will mark its first 365 days on Wednesday, 23 October.

The programme starts at 6 p.m. with the opening of the ‘Svilom Snovano Vreme’ exhibition by the Association of Weavers of Novi Sad and items on silk from the old Novi Sad silk factory will be presented among their artefacts. The Association of Weavers is the first association of this kind founded in Vojvodina in 1995, and they upgraded their work during the collaboration with Vlada Palibrk, street artist from France, within the ‘Novi Sad 2021 – European Capital of Culture’ project.

Simultaneously with the opening of the exhibition, ‘Raspričane Ulice’ Children Lantern Parade will be organised at 6 p.m. The group of students from the ‘Ivan Gundulić’ Primary School and preschool children from the ‘Dreamland’ kindergarten will start a walk through the Almaš neighbourhood, from the school, through Save Vukovića, Lađarska and Zemljane Ćuprije Streets to Svilara.  They will carry handmade lanterns created within the joint project by the ‘Ivan Gundulić’ Primary School and Academy of Arts, which were painted up in motifs of Almaš neighbourhood, while the preschool children will be wearing costumes.

The ‘Orfelin’s Cyrillic on Silk’ auction will be organised at 6:30 p.m. It is the humanitarian auction during which six silk scarves with motifs of Orfelin’s calligraphy in handwriting, on which 12 students from Jovan Jovanović Grammar School under the mentorship of Prof Jasmina Pivnički, PhD, worked, will be sold.

The opening of the ‘Svilara in Novi Sad – Generator of the First Industrial Area’ exhibition by authors Anica Draganić and Marija Silađi will be held at 7 p.m. The exhibition presents the highlight of a long-time scientific-research work by authors dedicated to the industrial heritage of Vojvodina and Novi Sad. The exhibition is accompanied by the catalogue, which will be one of the most appropriate publications regarding this topic, having in mind its richness when it comes to unpublished archive resources, photographs, written documents and new facts about first industrial area in Novi Sad and old Svilara.

A Guide through the Almaš Neighbourhood by Prof  Nikola Grdinić, PhD, will be presented at 7:15 p.m. New cultural guide discovers numerous unknown or little-known stories from the cultural history of the Almaš neihgbourhood.

The special chapter in the guide is dedicated to the old street names of the Almaš neighbourhood, which is part of the ‘Raspričane Ulice’ project, on which ‘Almašani’ Association works. The project that has been developed during 4 years will be presented at the anniversary of the Svilara.