PINE TWP, Mercer County - To Dave Dayton, looking at the woodcarving on display in his Slovak Folk Crafts shop is like looking at a miniature replica of Slovakia itself.

In the shop's backroom, the display is so imposing that it doesn't take a viewer long to get the general gist of Slovakian life, but it could take days of study to discover all the details.

The display measures 17 feet wide by 6 feet deep by 8 feet tall and features 82 moving figures. Hand-carved by artisans in Slovakia, the display had to be made and shipped in five pieces over a period of 2½ years.

"It's really interesting to watch people's reaction when they come in to see," Dayton said of the typical expression of awe and disbelief.

The woodcarving is designed as a map of Slovakia. Individual carvings and scenes depict places and activities as they are found in the country following that geographical blueprint.

When Dayton and his wife, Anne, commissioned Slovakian artists to design and build the piece, they requested that it characterize folk life as it has existed in the country for centuries.

"These things are still being done in one place or another," said Dayton.

Among the scenes are a dog herding sheep, women hoeing potatoes, and men working in blacksmith, carpenter, shoemaker and barrel makers' shops. While a woman rocks her baby, musicians dance to traditional folk music the viewer can almost hear in the background, and flirting peasants perform an age-old Easter tradition.

Taking center stage is an animated Nativity scene, featuring 13 figures representing people from all walks of life coming to pay their respects to the baby Jesus. Peasants and high church officials, dressed in ceremonial garb, circle the manger scene in procession.Just above the Nativity, a flock of sheep blankets the hillside in what many viewers say is the most striking representation, said Dayton. He was told by the artist that particular effect, with its many smooth waves and polished angles, was the most difficult to accomplish, requiring a specially made tool to complete.Many of the buildings in the carving are scale models of actual Slovakian buildings. If the carving is seen as a map, the buildings are placed according to their actual locations, including the Bratislava Castle in the upper left quadrant, which is actually located in the Slovakian capital of Bratislava. Also featured at top center is the Krivan mountain peak.Three Slovakian artists are responsible for the woodcarving's design and production. Until this project, two of them had never met the third.Although the Daytons had worked with the two to obtain merchandise for their shop, Dave Dayton originally encountered the concept artist almost by accident. Several years ago, during a regular trip to the country, a friend told Dayton he had a sight to show him that was more beautiful than Slovakia's much-venerated mountains.They traveled to a small village, where Dayton saw a woodcarving similar to the one he now keeps in his shop, but this one was 1½ times larger.

The artist was Jozef Pekara, at the time an 81-year-old master woodcarver who had taken 15 years to create the masterpiece as a gift to God. The Daytons decided bringing a similar art piece to their folk crafts shop in the United States would create a tremendous opportunity to educate Americans about Slovakian artistry and heritage. Through an interpreter, they discussed with Pekara the possibility of commissioning a similar piece."I don't think I have 15 years left to make another one," Pekara told Dayton.That's how the other two artists, Vlado Tomko and Milos Karabin, became involved. The two had worked together on previous projects, including various smaller woodcarvings the Daytons imported to sell in their shop.A plan was put together by which Pekara would design the woodcarving and acquire the components for its animation, while Tomko and Karabin performed the actual carving and woodwork.The artists chose basswood, also known as linden wood, for their project. The linden is Slovakia's national tree.Meanwhile, Pekara set to work acquiring windshield wiper motors originally designed for Volvo trucks to power the carving's animation, which is driven by an intricate network of pulleys, leather belts, gears and levers. Visitors to the woodcarving can witness the mechanism in action through three viewing windows in the back.The plan called for one of the display's five pieces to be completed every six months. Much to the Daytons' pleasure, it was a schedule the artists were able to keep, with the final piece arriving this May.It was an amazing feat, especially considering the detail in the depicted buildings and the people, including their faces, many no larger than a half dollar.The faces were one of Tomkin's personal challenges, Anne Dayton said. "He loves to do faces. It's not some blob there. It shows real emotion."The joy of the on-time completion was offset by some sadness. Three weeks after finishing the final piece, Pekara, the man who inspired and designed the project, died of cancer.Though Pekara didn't sign his carvings, his legacy lives on in the Daytons' woodcarving. In the Nativity scene, Pekara included a representation of himself kneeling at the Christ child's feet, presenting him with his most precious childhood toy, a wooden horse carving.As far as the Daytons know, their shop, located one mile east of Prime Outlets at Grove City on Route 208, is the only shop in the United States buying directly from Slovakians to support their economy.