It is the autumn of 2023 and, as always, there was an idea at the beginning. This was followed by a meeting between the president of the Union of Slovak Philatelists (ZSF) and the Minister of Transport (posts and telecommunications) and the idea turned into action. ZSF prepared Slovakia’s first ever candidacy for hosting the World Stamp Exhibition in 2027, which was submitted by FIP in the summer of 2024. On December 4, 2024, the candidacy at the 77th FIP Congress in Shanghai was approved (Fig. 1) and at the same time an FIP consultant was appointed for SLOVPHILEX 2027. In the summer of 2025, a draft contract was signed in Liberec (Fig. 2) and the entire formal process was officially completed on September 20, 2025 in Seoul with the ceremonial signing of the contract between FIP and Slovakia (Fig. 3). In the summer of 2025, on the occasion of the opening of the Stamp Gallery in Bratislava, Slovakia, the World stamp exhibition SLOVPHILEX 2027 was publicly announced for the first time (Fig. 4). This was followed by the necessary signing of contracts between ZSF, the Ministry of Transport, Slovak National Gallery and Slovak Post. For the idea of the World stamp exhibition, the organizers also managed to get the three-time world champion in road cycling Peter Sagan and the world champion and Olympic champion in alpine skiing Petra Vlhová, who became ambassadors of the exhibition. The President of the Slovak Republic, Peter Pellegrini (picture 5) was taken the auspices over the exhibition. At a press conference in December 2025 (Fig. 6), together with the location (representative spaces of the Slovak National Gallery) and the date (June 30-July 4, 2027), the exhibition was officially presented to the public through most of national and some foreign media. In the meantime, behind the scenes of the exhibition, the organizing committee is quietly carrying out all the necessary actions so that the entire philatelic world as well as the general public can fully enjoy SLOVPHILEX 2027. As part of the exhibition will include a seminar of the FIP Postal History Commission, an international auction and especially the FEPA CONGRESS 2027, we believe that all delegates will also be national commissioners, so the exhibition will have a very strong representation from Europe.
Fig. 1 Presentation and approval of the SLOVPHILEX 2027 world stamp exhibition at the 77th FIP Congress in Shanghai.
Fig. 2 Signing of the draft contract in Liberec, FIP Director Peter Suhadolc (left) and ZSF president Pavol Lazar
Fig. 3 Ceremonial signing of the contract in Seoul, FIP vice-president Yigal Nathaniel (left) and ZSF president Pavol Lazar
Fig.4 Opening of the Postage Stamp Gallery, (from left) Minister of Transport Jozef Ráž, ZSF president Pavol Lazar, general director of Slovenská Pošta, a.s. Vladislav Kupka
Fig. 5 President of the Slovak Republic Peter Pellegrini and exhibition ambassadors Petra Vlhová and Peter Sagan on Slovak postage stamps
Fig. 6 Press conference (from left) emcee/presenter, ZSF president Pavol Lazar, State Secretary of the Ministry of Transport of the Slovak Republic Igor Choma, Director General of Slovenská pošta, a.s. Vladislav Kupka, Director General of the Slovak National Gallery Juraj Králik
Source: The article was originally published in the magazine Merkur Revue 1/2026