Ekoiuventa, formerly known as the Youth House, Technical Station Mičurin, and Young Naturalists' Station, was Slovakia’s first comprehensive centre of natural science clubs for socialist pioneer youth – the country’s first enclosed facility catering to the needs of extracurricular youth education. In addition to the main building, facilities were progressively constructed for a wide range of activities – young technicians' building, young tourists' building, classroom and accommodation facility, amphitheatre, swimming pool, and greenhouses. Other important areas of the complex were the playground, experimental fields, apiaries, and poultry breeding and ornithological facilities.    

The hub of the complex was the Youth House with its façade overlooking Machnáč Hill and Búdková Street. Designed by the architect M. Chorvát, it is one of the most highly regarded, typical, and representative buildings of socialist realism architecture of the 1950s in Slovakia.  

Its façade is aestheticised by four stone reliefs created by the sculptor J. Kulich, set in pairs beside the entrance. The building’s principal artistic accent is Slovak Youth Builds by the sculptor Fraňo Gibala, a work mounted on the roof to welcome arriving visitors.  

Square stone reliefs form part of the façade's parterre, their light sandstone contrasting with the façade's red stone cladding. The slabs blend with the façade, only a prismatic cornice protruding below forms a pedestal for figures whose mission was to proclaim a happy new future for Slovakia’s youth. The individual scenes combine to form a unified artistic and compositional rendering. 

The relief depicting the puppet play is located at the northernmost end of the southwest façade. Compositionally, it depicts two groups of children: performers and audience. To the right, kneels a girl in profile, her raised hands holding a puppet with the face of a teddy bear. A tree grows in the background. To the left, the figures of the three children watch her performance. At the rear edge, a short-haired girl in a knee-length dress stands, her body in semi-profile and her head in profile. With her left hand on her hip, her right hand holds a pioneer scarf to her neck. In front of her to the right, a kneeling boy with arms at his sides is also watching the play. In the foreground, at the centre of the three children, a girl in a short skirt with hair combed into short braids is portrayed in profile watching the performance.

ZZ

Research status as of 15 November 2023.