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Photos: Couples make Valentine’s Day deposits at ‘Love Bank’ in Slovakia

In Banska Stiavnica, Slovakia, couples are getting ready on Valentine's Day to make deposits about their romance in a bank dedicated to love stories. The "Love Bank" highlights an exhibition commemorating the world's longest love poem, "Marina" by Slovak poet Andrej Sladkovic.

Updated on: Feb 14, 2018 9:19 AM IST

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In a small medieval Slovak town, couples are getting ready on Valentine’s Day to make a “deposit” about their romance in a place dedicated to love stories. The “Love Bank” is the main attraction of an exhibition commemorating the world’s longest love poem, “Marina” by Slovak poet Andrej Sladkovic. Written in 1844, the 2,900-line long poem tells the tale of the doomed love between the poet and Maria Pischlova. (Vladimir Simicek / AFP)

Updated on Feb 14, 2018 9:19 AM

In a small medieval Slovak town, couples are getting ready on Valentine’s Day to make a “deposit” about their romance in a place dedicated to love stories. The “Love Bank” is the main attraction of an exhibition commemorating the world’s longest love poem, “Marina” by Slovak poet Andrej Sladkovic. Written in 1844, the 2,900-line long poem tells the tale of the doomed love between the poet and Maria Pischlova. (Vladimir Simicek / AFP)

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Andrej and Maria were star-crossed lovers but unlike Romeo and Juliet their tragic romance is a true story. Marina’s parents shunned the poor poet and forced her into marriage. Her house in the former silver mining town of Banska Stiavnica is now known as the “Epicentre of Love” and features the exhibition, including a “love-o-meter” measuring the strength of a couple’s affection. (Vladimir Simicek / AFP)

Updated on Feb 14, 2018 9:19 AM

Andrej and Maria were star-crossed lovers but unlike Romeo and Juliet their tragic romance is a true story. Marina’s parents shunned the poor poet and forced her into marriage. Her house in the former silver mining town of Banska Stiavnica is now known as the “Epicentre of Love” and features the exhibition, including a “love-o-meter” measuring the strength of a couple’s affection. (Vladimir Simicek / AFP)

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For many, it’s the “Love Bank” that attracts them here so they can store and preserve romantic mementos. A long tunnel in the basement of the house has been turned into a vault with exactly 100,000 tiny drawers, one for each letter, gap, and punctuation mark of the original, 174-year-old manuscript of “Marina”. (Vladimir Simicek / AFP)

Updated on Feb 14, 2018 9:19 AM

For many, it’s the “Love Bank” that attracts them here so they can store and preserve romantic mementos. A long tunnel in the basement of the house has been turned into a vault with exactly 100,000 tiny drawers, one for each letter, gap, and punctuation mark of the original, 174-year-old manuscript of “Marina”. (Vladimir Simicek / AFP)

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As visitors to the exhibition pass through rooms combining modern design and 500-year-old rafters, a truly Potteresque experience awaits them: four “paintings” -- large flat-screen TVs -- on the wall suddenly come alive and act out scenes from the life of the poet and Marina. (Vladimir Simicek / AFP)

Updated on Feb 14, 2018 9:19 AM

As visitors to the exhibition pass through rooms combining modern design and 500-year-old rafters, a truly Potteresque experience awaits them: four “paintings” -- large flat-screen TVs -- on the wall suddenly come alive and act out scenes from the life of the poet and Marina. (Vladimir Simicek / AFP)

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Lovers can only make “deposits” a few times a year -- including on Valentine’s Day. One engaged couple told AFP they’d be visiting in a couple of days to hide cinema tickets from their first date here. Another couple had brought their seven-month-old baby son along to introduce him to the location of many courtship dates. (Vladimir Simicek / AFP)

Updated on Feb 14, 2018 9:19 AM

Lovers can only make “deposits” a few times a year -- including on Valentine’s Day. One engaged couple told AFP they’d be visiting in a couple of days to hide cinema tickets from their first date here. Another couple had brought their seven-month-old baby son along to introduce him to the location of many courtship dates. (Vladimir Simicek / AFP)

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In another room, one can flip through the pages of the “Register of Love”, weighing 53 kilogrammes and consisting of 3,200 pages that will be gradually filled with notes from lovers who visit the former dwelling of the poet’s muse. (Vladimir Simicek / AFP)

Updated on Feb 14, 2018 9:19 AM

In another room, one can flip through the pages of the “Register of Love”, weighing 53 kilogrammes and consisting of 3,200 pages that will be gradually filled with notes from lovers who visit the former dwelling of the poet’s muse. (Vladimir Simicek / AFP)

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The designers eye turning the “Epicentre of Love” into a major attraction, a place of pilgrimage for lovers from across the globe. They’re banking on the fact that if millions are willing to make the trip to Verona to see the balcony of the imaginary Romeo and Juliet, many will certainly come to the Epicentre of Love to relive a real love story. (Vladimir Simicek / AFP)

Updated on Feb 14, 2018 9:19 AM

The designers eye turning the “Epicentre of Love” into a major attraction, a place of pilgrimage for lovers from across the globe. They’re banking on the fact that if millions are willing to make the trip to Verona to see the balcony of the imaginary Romeo and Juliet, many will certainly come to the Epicentre of Love to relive a real love story. (Vladimir Simicek / AFP)

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