Soon after the iron curtain had opened up Alexander Stipsits was invited by Czech friends to discover the lovely Renaissance town of Slavonice right on the border between the Czech Republic and Austria.
In the following years he grew ever closer to the vibrant artists' scene in the town and became involved in organizing cross border cultural events in preparation for the Czech Republic's accession to the European Union.
In 2005 Josselyn Lifton-Zoline, a young aspiring Opera singer who trained in New York, was invited by Alexander Stipsits for a series of concerts in Austria and the Czech Republic. One of those was produced in cooperation with the Cultural Office of the town of Slavonice at the town's museum.
Pamela & John Lifton-Zoline attended their daughter's performance in Slavonice, and fell in love with this uniquely preserved and touchingly charming gem of a historic town. Being experienced developers due to their over 20 years of experience in the famous Telluride resort they immediately realized the potential of Slavonice as a European centre of tourism and education.
As the city council was at that time anyway looking for a new use for their Hapsburg School building Pam & John together with their friend and partner Alexander Stipsits purchased the building and started renovations. John being an Architect himself created the unique design whereby he integrated his contemporary approach with the 19th century style of the building. So the Institut Slavonice was created, becoming a truly unique facility for conferences, seminars, meetings and presentations of all kinds with no equal between Vienna, Prague.
