Monday, 5 October 2026 – A school tour, presentations about the home cities, an escape room about electronic devices and a trip back in time at the Thurzo-Fugger exhibition: the first project day prepared everyone for the rest of the week.
At 8 a.m. everyone met at the host school, ZŠ Moskovská 2. The head teacher, Mgr. Marta Melicherová, gave an official welcome. Then the Slovak students showed their guests around the school: the classrooms, the science rooms, the school garden and much more.
After that, the German and Polish groups presented their home cities. Augsburg was the city of the Fuggers. Jakob Fugger managed his large trading company from there. Kraków was an important centre for transport and trade in the Fugger network. “It really helped us to understand how important the Fuggers were for our region in the past,” the reporting team writes.
During the break, there was Kofola, a very popular Slovak soft drink, and Horalky wafers. Then the teachers organised games to help the students from the three countries get to know each other. After a round of introductions, mixed teams took part in an escape room. To get out, they had to answer quiz questions about electronic devices – the main topic of the whole week. For lunch, the school canteen served pancakes with strawberries and chocolate.
In the afternoon, everyone walked to the town centre. The Thurzo-Fugger exhibition starts at the Barbakan, the town castle. It tells the story of the copper trade between the two families. The Slovak students were well prepared: each of them presented one part of the tour to the guests. At the start, the groups were given smartphones. On these phones, they could see 3D models of the mining tools that people in the region used at that time.
Another short talk was about more recent history and about Medený Hámor. This copper factory is one of the oldest places of mass production in Slovakia.
At the end of the day, the students did their own research. On the main square, they asked people how they and their families use electronic devices and what they do with old devices.
After that, everyone had free time. Some students went to the shopping centre, and others played board games. Some also learned to play traditional Slovak card games.
