Apimondia, organised this year in Istanbul, was an event attracting beekeepers from all over the world. Amidst a trade fair and lectures delivered by world-class experts, every two years, representatives of various countries have the opportunity to compete for gold medals in beekeeping categories. This year, once again, the whole world was talking about Poland. Although, in total, our compatriots brought as many as 12 medals from Turkey, the most valuable ones turned out to be those for an innovative device, beekeeping photography, an educational book for children and cosmetics based on bee products.
Bees unite the world!
"Bees unite the world". This was the slogan of this year's biggest beekeeping event, the Apimondia International Beekeeping Congress, which this year proved to be quite a challenge not only for the organising committee, but also for the anxiously awaiting participants. Due to the pandemic that continued until recently, the congress was postponed until 2022, where Russia was to play the role of host. However, here too, everything changed. In response to the Russian state's aggression towards Ukraine, the Apimondian authorities decided to cancel the congress, which was to be held in Ufa. Although it seemed that for another year the world wouldn’ have to get the event that arouses the most excitement in beekeeping, Turkey – the organiser of an earlier edition of Apimondia in 2017 - came to the rescue.
The International Organisation of Beekeeping Associations, Apimondia, has been bringing together bee lovers from around the globe for 127 years. It is primarily for them that a special biennial congress is organised in conjunction with an international trade fair, where exhibitors from more than 100 countries worldwide can be found. This year, the Łysoń company, one of the world's leading producers of beekeeping equipment, could not be missing from this list. With 14 medals to its credit so far, the Beekeeping Company Tomasz Łysoń, also this time took part in the race for the gold medals awarded in over a dozen categories.
Polish beekeeping is now the colour of gold
The educational beehive submitted by the Apikultura Foundation attracted the greatest interest among the international jury. As the judges of the prestigious competition emphasised, against the background of various, yet typical for this category, beekeeping equipment, the dadant beehive with 20 didactic boards in the form of frames hidden inside, turned out to be a real innovation, which had not yet been seen at Apimondia. Gold was also awarded to the children's booklet "Once upon a time in an apiary", which, with its amusing, rhyming form and eye-catching illustrations, was impossible not to notice among the competing publications. The third gold medal was awarded by the Apimondia committee to a beekeeping photograph, which was the first prize of its kind that the Łysoń company had ever won in this category. Medals were also awarded to soaps based on bee products produced by the Łysoń Apiary, a body lotion, which is the company's iconic product, and candles, which were also on the podium due to their very realistic rose shape. The proposal for a display for bee products, where the construction made of frames and artistically shaped bee wax foundation left the competing stands far behind, also turned out to be a great success, as it was awarded gold. During the final gala, the management of the Łysoń company also received medals awarded for the magazine Pasieka, as well as Anatomy and Physiology of the Honeybee, published by the same publishing house. However, it was not only the competition exhibits representing the Tomasz Łysoń Beekeeping Company that made history at Apimondia 2022 in Istanbul. The Łysoń stand, which not only stood out against the background of the world beekeeping fairs with its size of 120 m2, but above all with its unique composition referring to the joint project of the Apikultura Foundation and Beata Bojda 'Bees&Flowers', will definitely remain the hallmark of this year's edition. The unforgettable atmosphere, meetings after many years, as well as endless discussions on beekeeping are what everyone has been waiting for for a long time. For all the days of the fair, the participants were also accompanied by the already well-known slogan of the Łysoń company "Where is Tarkan?!" which was a reference to the promotional spots of Apimondia, where the adventures of the friendly muppets Tomek, Rafał and Kali from the TV series "Kala and the Bees" invited to meet together during the 47th International Apimondia Congress in Istanbul.
The next congress is coming up on 4 September 2023 in Chile. Although the bar is raised higher and higher every year, we may already expect more unforgettable emotions, which have already become a permanent part of the Apimondia tradition. However, what is most gratifying at events of this magnitude is to see our compatriots who, among the hundreds of thousands of participants from all over the world, are always present where bees are spoken of with passion and love.