Matica slovenská
Matica slovenská (roughly "Slovak foundation / association", literally "Slovak mother") is the national cultural institute of Slovakia with its seat in Martin . It is largely supported by donations, government funds, sponsors and the like. financed.
history
Period 1863 to 1918
On June 6th and 7th, 1861, well-known representatives of the Slovaks met in St. Martin an der Turz to discuss a document drawn up by Štefan Marko Daxner, which has gone down in history as the " Memorandum of the Slovak Nation " ( Slov. Memorandum národa slovenského ), to decide. One of the demands set out in this document was the establishment of a Slovak cultural institute, which was to be named Matica slovenská .
Matica was founded on August 4, 1863 as an expression of the Slovak national cultural awareness as a national institution of all Slovaks. With the founding meeting, one of the most important cultural associations in the history of the Slovaks came into being.
The celebrations, which were attended by around 5000 people, began with a service in the Evangelical Church and a Holy Mass in the Roman Catholic Church of Martin. Afterwards there was an official opening session chaired by Ján Francisci , as the opening president. Francisci presented the assembly with a report on the collection campaign, which brought in 94,000 guilders as start-up capital. The new institution even received a donation of 1,000 guilders from Emperor Franz Joseph I.
The statute for its establishment was approved by Emperor Franz Joseph I on August 21, 1862 . The first chairman was the Catholic Bishop Štefan Moyzes , his deputy was the Evangelical Bishop Karol Kuzmány .
Before a new club building could be built, the administration of the institute had its administrative offices in the so-called Beňuška house . The new club building was planned by the architect Ján Nepomuk Bobula , and the foundation stone was laid on April 6, 1864. Construction work was completed in late July 1865 and the first meeting in the new building took place on August 8, 1865. It entered the annals of Matica slovenská as the "first building".
In the German War in 1866, Austria was defeated by the Prussians in the Battle of Königgrätz . After this defeat, the weakened Austrian Empire felt compelled to draw appropriate domestic political consequences. And so it came to the Austro-Hungarian settlement which led to the establishment of Austria-Hungary and thereby strengthened the position of the Hungarians within the state. From this position of strength, Matica was closed by decree no. 125 of April 6, 1875 of the then Hungarian Interior Minister Kálmán Tisza for "too strong Slovak sentiments" and the assets collected through donations from the emperor and the Slovaks were confiscated. The institute was accused of " pan-Slavic activities".
Period 1919 to 1948
After the establishment of Czechoslovakia , it was reactivated in 1919 and practically worked as a replacement for this institution until the establishment of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (1942) (Matica regulated the Slovak language , among other things ).
Between 1924 and 1926 the "second building" of Matica was built according to plans by the architect Ján Palkovič. This building was named a 'National Cultural Monument' in 1964 and is now the headquarters of the institute.
The activity of Matica slovenská was not particularly supported during the time of the First Czecho-Slovak Republic, as the leading Czech politicians of that time TG Masaryk and Edvard Beneš were representatives of so-called Czechoslovakism . Most of the agreements made in the Pittsburgh Treaty were not kept by the Czechs, reports the Slovenské národné noviny the official press organ of Matica slovenská.
Period after 1948
After the communists came to power in Czechoslovakia in 1948 , the tasks of the Matica were greatly reduced so that it only worked as a kind of society and library for the maintenance of the Slovak language. The traditional "bad relations" between the Matica and the government continued in the period that followed.
A low point was reached when the then President of Czechoslovakia Antonín Novotný received an invitation to Martin to take part in the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the Slovak grammar school in Martin in August 1967. At a reception in Matica slovenská he insulted the board of directors of Matica as "bourgeois nationalists" (Slov. Buržoázni nacionalisti ), and forbade his wife to accept the gifts that are usual on such occasions. Instead of the originally planned visit to Martin's Slovak National Cemetery , he preferred a visit to an agricultural production cooperative (Slov. Jednotné roľnické družstvo, JRD) in the vicinity. As a result, he not only disavowed the leadership of the Matica, but also large parts of the Slovaks felt offended by this behavior. The leadership of the then Slovak Communist Party under Alexander Dubček turned away from him and this event certainly contributed to his overthrow in March 1968 and was one of the reasons for the Prague Spring .
After a federal order was introduced within Czechoslovakia on January 1, 1969, the traditional Slovak institute Matica slovenská received more attention within the Slovak republic.
As early as 1963, when Matica was founded 100 years ago, there were considerations about a new building. In 1964, the architects Dušan Kuzma and Anton Cimmermann created plans for this. Due to political quarrels, however, the construction of the "third building" of Matica could not be completed until 1975. When Matica separated from the Slovak National Library , which resides in this building, in 2000 , the building was assigned to the National Library in 2005. Since then, Matica slovenská has resided in the "second building" from the 1920s.
After the Velvet Revolution (1989), the cultural institute's area of responsibility was only partially expanded.
The duties of Matica slovenská
The main task is to maintain the national cultural heritage.
Matica slovenská includes, among others
- Slovak Literature Institute
- Slovak Historical Institute
and until 2000 also the Slovak National Library
Great personalities
Significant personalities who worked at Matica slovenská were:
- Štefan Moyzes (* 1797, † 1869), Bishop of Neusohl ; was the first chairman of the institute from 1863
- Karol Kuzmány (* 1806, † 1866), professor of theology in Vienna , co-founder of the cultural institute
- Michal Miloslav Hodža (1811–1870)
- Jozef Miloslav Hurban (1817-1888)
- Jozef Škultéty (1853–1948)
- Jozef Cíger-Hronský (1896–1960)
literature
Július Vanovič: Druhá kniha o starom Martine, Matica slovenská, Martin 1993, ISBN 80-7090-241-8
Web links
- Official Homepage (Slovak)
- August 1967 v Matici (Slovak)
- Slovenské národné noviny memories of a failed marriage (Slovak)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kálmán Tisza was Minister of the Interior from March 2, 1875 to February 11, 1887 and also Prime Minister of Hungary from October 20, 1875 to March 13, 1890. Tisza urged the non-Magyar population of Hungary by more or less gentle pressure to accept not only Hungarian nationality but also the Hungarian language as their 'mother tongue'.
- ↑ This is how Masaryk, in his capacity as President of the then Czechoslovakia (!), Answered an editor of the French magazine 'Le Petit Parisien' on September 14, 1921 when asked about the relationship with the Slovaks: There is no Slovak people. This is just an invention of Hungarian propaganda! (Source Slovenské národné noviny, November 1, 2016; see web links)
- ↑ The magazine Slovenské národné noviny has been the official weekly magazine of Matica slovenská since May 1st, 2011. The magazine was founded in 1845 under the title Slovenskje národňje novini by Ľudovít Štúr and appeared again and again with numerous interruptions.
- ↑ Slovenské národné noviny ("Slovak National Newspaper" ) from November 1, 2016
- ↑ The "Czechoslovak Socialist Republic" (ČSSR) founded on July 11, 1960 was divided into two sub-republics (Czech Socialist Republic and Slovak Socialist Republic) with effect from January 1, 1969 .