Press Statement of the Ružomberok Information Centre: Nature as Therapy

(20.9.2021 Ružomberok) “Nature as Therapy”, this is the slogan you might have seen over the past few days when entering the town of Ružomberok from one of three cardinal directions. This slogan is not a breakthrough discovery, but a campaign of the Ružomberok Information Centre and the town of Ružomberok aimed at promoting the knowledge of what is situated in Ružomberok and its surroundings (district) and can be used for replenishment of physical or mental energy.

The medicinal effects of the nature in Ružomberok’s surroundings are particularly evidenced by the fact that there are three spa complexes situated in the Ružomberok District. In two of them, the medicinal effects of the climate or the water are still used to this day.

The current situation with its aggravating trend, resulting in people staying isolated, worrying about their health or the health of their loved ones, has significantly impacted not only our physical health, but also our emotional well-being. That is why the Ružomberok Information Centre in cooperation with the department of regional politics at the Ružomberok Town Hall have decided to use a series of inspirational articles to increase people’s awareness of how they can utilize everything that Ružomberok and its surroundings have to offer, even in this restricted situation, and how they can benefit from it in these stressful times.

“If you want to enhance your health, there are many mineral springs in the surroundings of Ružomberok, which, in addition to supplying essential minerals to the body, often have medicinal effects due to their composition,” says Gabriela Demčáková, the head of the department of regional politics at the Municipal Authority in Ružomberok.

The mineral springs can be easily accessed from Ružomberok using a network of marked bike trails and hiking trails. Website https://visit.ruzomberok.sk/, which is intended primarily for the visitors to Ružomberok, offers information on where to find the springs to anyone interested in enhancing their health via drinking regime.

Many people struggle with stress in particular, as a result of the preventive measures implemented due to Covid 19. Those who are interested may find at the above-mentioned website a large number of locations, such as small churches, chapels, crosses or springs, which they can visit and sit a while in peace, rest or meditate, in order to release stress and discover places they would otherwise never have thought of visiting.

“A trip to a chapel or a cross does not always need to have a spiritual dimension only, many times they are located at interesting locations in terms of history, surroundings, and last but not least beautiful views,” adds Milan Kolčák, the head of the Ružomberok Information Centre.

“The presentation website mentioned above is in the process of completion and as of now, it already contains over three hundred articles, to which more will be added over time. It is going to take a few more years for the website to map everything that the surroundings of Ružomberok have to offer. The intention is to create a comprehensive view of our region, which is one of the richest regions in Slovakia with regard to nature,” says Ján Benčík, an employee at the Ružomberok Information Centre.

A section has been created at the mentioned website called “Nature as Therapy“, to which short articles will be added on a regular basis, serving as inspiration on ways to spend free time, places to visit where you might not meet anyone else, while doing something for your health as well. “During the initial campaign, we plan to add something for inspiration every week, which we would like to keep doing at least until the end of the year. After that, we will see what the results of this small campaign are, and we will decide whether to continue in the next year as well,” says Kolčák.

Most of the ideas will be designed to include families with children, which means they should be suitable for everyone. They will also be designed to include the option of using public transportation and local establishments, which provide jobs for the local residents, adds Benčík.

The Ružomberok Town Hall supports this campaign of the Ružomberok Information Centre primarily because it believes that it could increase the well-being of the local inhabitants and the visitors in the town, in the physical as well as the emotional aspect, adds Demčáková.

We hope that we motivated you and that you will join us in checking the visitor website for future posts. And as we care not only about the well-being of people, but also about nature, we are going to explore our surroundings in a mindful way, in accordance with motto #ObjavUdržateľnéSlovensko (DiscoverSustainableSlovakia), so that the generations after us will also be able to enjoy what we have now.