Slasti a neřesti / Pleasures and Vices

The catalogue accompanying the exhibition of the same name at the Ethnographic Museum of the National Museum captures the phenomenon of hedonism and the joys of ordinary people living in the countryside and smaller towns in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Through everyday objects, but also through folk literature, songs, and games, it highlights the surprising unrestrained nature of folk culture in contrast to the prudishness of the time. The exhibition explores themes directly related to physical pleasures, such as alcohol consumption, eroticism, and folk entertainment, but also their negative aspects, which often lead to pathological conditions such as alcoholism, gambling, and violence.