The aim of the current paper is to assess the Bulgarian reflections on T. G. Masaryk's death in 1937. I am going to apply the theoretical approach of the German historian Reinhart Koselleck, who asserted that the "political cult of the dead" should be explored in a certain historical context and the commemoration of the "dead hero" was intended to reconstruct historical events and images. Therefore, before approaching my main objective, I will make a brief overview of the Bulgarian image of TGM in the context of the Bulgarian-Czechoslovak political relationship during the interwar period. I rely mainly on Bulgarian and Czechoslovak periodical press as well as on archival sources, published documents, and secondary literature, related to the subject. In my case study the periodical press assumes the role of intercultural communication and a mechanism of constructing cultural and national stereotypes.
Libuše Bráfová, granddaughter of František Palacký and daughter of František Ladislav Rieger, decided to set up a museum in the house where her family had lived for several generations. In my paper I will focus on the following questions: What did the idea of home mean to Bráfová? Why did she decided to open her house to public? What were functions and purpose of the museum and why was setting it up so difficult? Besides, I will be interested in the functionig of the museum in the first years of its existence, the popularity of this institution among the Czech public and the experiences of visitors of the home of the most important Czech family in the 19th century.
The end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century was a period of growing interest in historical topography and local history. At that time, two substantial topographical works were being created in Moravia: the collective work Vlastivěda Moravská and the topography of Ladislav Hosák. Although some had intentions, a comparable work was not produced for Bohemia. This article presents one of the few attempts at a topography for the whole of Bohemia, the work of the peasant and politician Jan Barták (1861–1941) from the village of Kaliště near Ondřejov. In the years 1895–1941, Barták wrote and prepared for publication 193 volumes of his topography of Bohemia, based on extensive archival research and study of regional literature. During his lifetime, the author only managed to have one volume published, the one for the Jílové district near Prague. His topographical work, stored today in the State District Archive in Prague-West, based in Dobřichovice, has subsequently fallen into obscurity. The article provides information about Barták himself, his family, education, career, and political views. It focuses on Barták 's motivation for his topographical work, his inspiration, goals, sources, and methods of work. It also describes the scope and content of the work and its destiny after Barták' s death.
The presented study is trying to analyze the development of the image of the president's birthday celebrations in 1919–1953. The day was one of the most important rituals during the common year. It was also one of the key factors in forming of the collective memory of the Czechoslovak society at that time. That was especially valid in the years when the independent Czechoslovak state was endangered. By comparison, the study is trying to show, how the form of the feast has changed during the reflected period, which was characteristic by dynamic changes of regimes and ideologies.
The study focuses on "pictorial topographies", i.e. series of vedutas, the creators of which aimed, at least to a certain extent, for topographic accuracy. Based on the works mentioned in Přehled vývoje vlastivědného popisu Čech [The development of homeland studies description of Bohemia] by František Roubík and works mostly published in the last 20 years, the author proposes various ways of classifying the series, which facilitates more accurate historical research. It also examines the transformation in their typology, which was compiled at the turn of the 19th century and was influenced by the Enlightenment and Romanticism.
The study focuses on the development of topographic works in Bohemia and Moravia in the period after the publication of Schaller's topography. Based on these works, the study reconstructs the types of outputs and forms of presentation of topographic data. It identifies various inventory topographies, statistical lexicons, homeland studies presentations, thematic lexicons, specialized topographic studies, cartographic representations, the publishing of vedutas and old photographs, and the preparation of dictionaries of local names.
The goal of the article is to present the database and to outline its structure, content and feasible outputs. The research background for the creation of the database is briefly mentioned, and the basic structure of the database is described along with the current state of data retrieval. The keystones of the study are samples of database outputs. They are presented from simple searching and filtering to the broader application of statistical methods, and supplemented with examples of the map presentation of topographical themes.
The study deals with the parish topography of the Dobruška deanery and its clergy until 1436. The focus is on defining the extent of the deanery, the patronages of churches, papal tithes and the distribution of the patronage right. It also deals with the factors associated with the benefice work of clerics. The study focuses on the following issues: who was chosen for presentations; where the clerics came from; how long they worked at benefices; and why their work ended. It also analyzes the careers and mobility of clerics, and with reference to particular cases explains possible motives for exchanging benefices.
The contribution will focus on the philosophical conception of cultural and national identity of Erazim Kohák and journalistic thinking of the history of Pavel Tigrid in 20th century. In both cases, the aim is to find the concept of national identity. Kohák formulated his concept clearly and peculiarly in the book Hearth and Horizon (2009), Pavel Tigrid somewhat indefinitely in the book Pocket Guide of an Intelligent Woman After Her Destiny (1988). Both authors were political exiles after February 1948. In terms of opposition to the Communist regime, Kohák and Tigrid represent not only prominent figures, but also a sample of diversity, which was characterized by anti-communist exile.
In addition to the analysis of written sources and the study of maps, another source of information on the historical visual character of towns is pictorial works, i.e., vedutas and, since the 19th century, photographs. Photographs and postcards capturing public spaces and buildings that no longer exist are essential for the purposes of historical topography. Studying and comparing these materials might contribute to reconstructing past roads and urban developments, locating buildings, and defining their visual aspects and purpose. Despite the fact that photographs are a relatively recent source, one of the pitfalls might be the dating of them.