The authors use the example of the personality of Tomáš Řehoř Wolny (1793–1871) to describe the development of historical topography in Moravia in the 19th century, following the founding work of František Josef Schwoy (1742–1806). Wolny, who upon his entrance to the Benedictine monastery in Rajhrad near Brno in 1817 adopted the order name Gregor, was also an avid researcher-historian. Although his life and professional destiny has already been examined in earlier Czech and Austrian historiography, his work has unfortunately not yet been comprehensively evaluated, not only in terms of the methodological procedures Wolny used, but also in reflecting on his monumental works dealing with general and ecclesiastical topography in contemporary research. The aim of the presented paper is to at least partially fill in this gap in current knowledge.