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Since 2011, the center -- Cankarjev Dom -- has been hosting bees
on its roof, producing about 120 kg (265 lb) of honey per year
which are used for gifts to business partners.
It started at the Apimondia world congress of beekeepers in
2003, held at Cankarjev Dom.
"There was a beehive set in the nearby park and ... a memory of
my teenage years came back when I helped my uncle who had bees,"
said Franc Petrovcic, head of maintenance of mechanical
equipment at the center.
Petrovcic, who last week won an international agriculture fair
award for the quality of his honey, started a movement that is
spreading fast.
It is estimated that bees are now to be found at about 150
locations in 300,000-population Ljubljana, mostly in gardens, on
roofs and terraces.
Gorazd Trusnovec keeps bees on 15 locations in the capital,
among them the roof of the building of the state radio channel,
Radio Slovenia, where there is a wonderful view on the Ljubljana
castle on one side and the Alps on the other.
"Ljubljana has a huge potential (for beekeeping) because it is
very green and located in the middle of forests," Trusnovec
said.
Petrovcic, meanwhile, says recent tests showed that urban honey
is very healthy. For one thing, it has no traces of pesticides
since there are no large fields in the vicinity.
Bee populations across European Union have been in decline for
years mostly due to an extensive use of pesticides in
agriculture.
Slovenia, an Alpine state of 2 million people, has about 10,000
beekeepers and thus a higher concentration of them than in any
other European Union country, according to the national
statistics office.
The country has proposed to the United Nations that it declare
May 20 as World Bee Day to commemorate the birth date of the one
of the Europe's first beekeepers, a Slovene Anton Jansa, born in
1734. The initiative gained support of the Food and Agriculture
Organisation (FAO) last month.
Beekeeper Trusnovec hopes the declaration will raise global
awareness that there is no life without bees because they are
needed for pollination.
He said roofs are excellent for beekeeping because "bees are
wild animals with defense mechanisms so they need to be kept at
some distance from people".
(Reporting By Marja Novak Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)
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