Society of the National Museum in Bohemia
The Society of the Patriotic Museum in Bohemia was an association of well-known and influential people for the creation of a public collection of scientific, historical, geographical and artistic evidence in Bohemia . One result of these efforts is the Prague National Museum .
Foundation and purpose
This society was formed as a result of a founding appeal in 1818 by Count Franz Anton von Kolowrat-Liebsteinsky . Numerous representatives of public life in the then Kingdom of Bohemia followed this initiative by expressing their interest, including Kaspar Maria von Sternberg and Franz von Sternberg-Manderscheid . The official confirmation of the establishment took place on June 11, 1820 by the Austrian Emperor Franz I , who also confirmed the statute on June 14, 1822.
Its creators wanted to combine academic achievements from the German- and Czech-speaking parts of the population of Bohemia with this society. The purpose of the society was described as follows: "... to offer organized collections of natural products and monuments to the community for beneficial use and to preserve them for posterity." and extraordinarily beneficial influence on this society and the development of its collections. August Lobkowitz was the first manager.
In the first years of its existence a distinction was made between founding and active members. Their task consisted in the delivery of collection objects or the donation of amounts of money or a fixed annual fee. The collection was housed in a building belonging to the Society of Patriotic Art Friends. In the beginning, it was possible to use the collections on all days except Wednesday and Sunday in the library. From 1827 the Society published the monthly of the Society of the Patriotic Museum . Its editors were František Palacký and Pavel Jozef Šafárik .
History of the company
Social support for this institution was very high. This has been proven by the members and honorary members by number and name since their foundation. These include u. a. Joseph Thun, Karl Clam-Martinic , August Longin Lobkowitz , Clemens Metternich , Johann Nostitz , Karl Kinsky , Wenzel Berschan von Rothenburg (Canon of Königgrätz ), Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , Alexander von Humboldt , Wilhelm Haidinger , Ernst Friedrich von Schlotheim , Georges Cuvier , Alexandre Brongniart , Jöns Jakob Berzelius , Heinrich von Struve and many other personalities.
In the report to the tenth general meeting on May 26, 1832, a total of 232 members are listed. These included some institutional members, such as the k. Bohemian Reading Society , the Royal Bohemian Society of Sciences or the cities of Budweis and Pilsen .
It was headed by an administrative committee headed by long-time President Kaspar Maria von Sternberg. This coordinated the work and administered the financial assets.
The structure of the collection grew as quickly as the membership list. Donations, purchases and exchanges enriched the holdings. Through the group of honorary members, including many foreigners, the company received valuable objects, the procurement of which would have been difficult or otherwise impossible.
In 1832 the collections comprised the following groups:
- in the oryktognostic department of minerals , fossils , meteorites and crystal models
- Plants and parts of plants from home and abroad dried in the plant collection
- in the zoological department animals of the various genera
- in the ethnographic department articles of daily use and clothing of peoples, excavation objects
- a collection of seal impressions in the Sphragidothek
- a coin collection
- a library with books, maps and pictures
Karl Bořiwog Presl (for zoology and botany) and Franz Xaver Zippe (minerals and fossils) initially worked as custodians for the collection . The librarian, archivist and curator of the coin collection was Václav Hanka . Later the staff changed.
František Palacký took over the management of the company at the beginning of the 1840s and gained increasing influence. In his inaugural address to the 20th General Assembly in 1842, he spoke about the Society and its museum from the National Institute and reported on negotiations with the Bohemian professional representation for the purpose of building a new museum in Prague's old town. The abbreviation museum now finally established itself in parlance. The new President Joseph Graf von Nostitz uses the term Bohemian State Museum in his inaugural address . The upcoming cultural-intellectual split in Bohemia in the pre-March period casts its shadow with this term.
From 1846 the museum collections were housed in the Palais Nostitz , which had been acquired by the Bohemian estates for this purpose in 1845. This solution came after efforts to create a Franciscaneum in Prague failed. The collections remained there until the move to the current building on Wenceslas Square .
Czech-language literature
In 1830 the board of directors of the society decreed the establishment of a committee for the scientific care of the patriotic language and literature . At the same time, a collection of donations began to set up this special area for the purpose of promoting the Bohemian language. At the end of 1831, 2,597 Convention thalers had been raised for this project. In the following year, the company began to publish selected works and a quarterly publication in the Czech language. In this committee worked František Palacký , Johann Presl and Josef Jungmann .
These people played a prominent role in the process of the Czech National Revival in Bohemia. You contributed significantly to the nationalization of the society of the Patriotic Museum in Bohemia .
In 1837 the society supported the publication of the Bohemian dictionary by Joseph Jungmann.
Effects
The need for extensive scientific research in Bohemia in the 19th century and the special relationship to the central power in Vienna created an increasingly independent path among the intellectuals of Bohemia, each with a national character. The divergent interests between the German- and Czech-speaking population also increased noticeably in this field. As a result of this tendency, the society participated as an ideal and scientific sponsoring organization in the Committee for scientific research into the country, founded in 1864 . It can be seen that this way particularly national-Czech- oriented and outstanding scientists got into a professionally exposed position. One of them was the member of the Imperial Council, Jan Krejčí , who did important research on the Bohemian Chalk and from 1881 held university lectures in Czech. The scientists Karl Kořistka , Johann Purkyně and the historian Wenzel Tomek were also included .
The National Museum in Prague was later formed from the collections of the Society of the National Museum in Bohemia . When the building, which is still used today, was opened on May 18, 1891, the collections found their current home. The society was nationalized in the 20th century.
literature
- K. Kořistka: Overview of the activities of natural scientific research into the country of Bohemia from 1864 to 1890 . Prague (Fr. Řivnáč) 1891
- Ernst Nittner (ed.): A thousand years of German-Czech neighborhood . Munich (Institutum Bohemicum) 1988 ISBN 3-924020-12-4
- Friedrich Prinz (ed.): German history in Eastern Europe. Bohemia and Moravia . Berlin (Siedler) 2002 ISBN 3-88680-773-8
- FC Watterich von Watterichsburg: Concise dictionary of regional studies of the Kingdom of Bohemia . 2nd edition, Prague (CW Medau and Comp.) 1845
- Negotiations of the Society of the Patriotic Museum in Bohemia in the tenth general meeting on May 26, 1832 . Prague (Schönfeld) 1832
- Negotiations of the Society of the Fatherland Museum in Bohemia in the sixteenth general meeting on April 18, 1838 . Prague (Gottlieb Haase Sons) 1838
- Negotiations of the Society of the Fatherland Museum in Bohemia in the Twentieth General Assembly on May 11, 1842 . Prague (self-published museum) 1842
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c F.C. Watterich von Watterichsburg, 1845, p. 300
- ↑ Friedrich Prinz (Ed.), 1993, p. 296
- ^ Negotiations of the Society .., 1842, pp. 11-19.
- ↑ Negotiations of the Society .., 1832, pp. 15-25.
- ^ Negotiations of the Society .., 1842, pp. 3-19.
- ↑ Negotiations of the Society .., 1842, p. 25.
- ^ Michaela J. Marek: Art and Identity Politics: Architecture and Visual Arts in the Process of the Czech Nation-Building . Cologne 2004, p. 74 (footnote 315), 322 ISBN 3412142026