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90th Anniversary of the Pittsburgh Agreement Signing

May 30th of this year marked the 90 th anniversary of the Pittsburgh Agreement. In 1918, leaders of local and national Slovak and Czech fraternal organizations met in Pittsburgh where they drafted and signed a document (Pittsburgh Agreement) that led to the establishment of an independent Czechoslovak state which was formerly part of the Astro-Hungarian Empire. This document is often compared to the U.S. Declaration of Independence or the Magna Carta.

To celebrate the anniversary of this momentous occasion, the original Pittsburgh Agreement went on display at the Slovak Parliament Building in Bratislava. Both U.S.Ambassador Vincent Obsitnik and Slovak Foreign Minister Jan Kubis addressed a large group attending the ceremony.

After being on display for a week in the lobby of the Parliament Building, the document was transferred to the Slovak National Museum where it is part of exhibition entitled "How We Lived". The exhibit shows life in Slovakia in the twentieth century. The Pittsburgh Agreement will remain there until October. After a brief exhibit in Prague, it will return to its permanent home at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, PA where it will be on continuous display in mid- November as part of Pittsburgh's celebration of its 250th birthday.