Dějiny Národního muzea jako historiografické téma / The National Museum as a historiographic topic

Pages

79-92

Citation

WOITSCHOVÁ, Klára a JŮN, Libor. Dějiny Národního muzea jako historiografické téma / The National Museum as a historiographic topic. Journal of the National Museum. History Series. Prague: National Museum, 2015, 184(1-2), 79-92. ISSN 1214-0627. Also available from: https://publikace.nm.cz/en/periodicals/jotnmhs/184-1-2/dejiny-narodniho-muzea-jako-historiograficke-tema-the-national-museum-as-a-historiographic-topic

Journal of the National Museum. History Series | 2015/184/1-2

With the approaching bicentenary of the establishment of the National Museum, some topics that have been utterly ignored in the past are being reopened. One of the more interesting ones is the issue of the history of the NM as a historiographic theme. Besides many partial attempts, history provides witnesses of several comprehensive efforts for a solid treatment of this topic. The first attempt is associated with the name of the museum’s secretary V. B. Nebeský, celebrating the first half-century of the institution’s existence. However, this paper focuses on the second attempt, intended to celebrate the first centenary of the Museum. Its protagonists were museum library staffers Josef Volf, Vácslav Řezníček and Čeněk Zíbrt and the external expert Josef Hanuš. The project was only implemented partially, mostly as a consequence of the World War I events. The third project on writing the history of the NM was going to be implemented in the 1980s in association with the National Museum Archives, notably the great initiative of its head Aleš Chalupa. The feat also remained only a rudiment, and even though a lot of work was done, he never achieved the final outcome. A systematic history of the NM thus remains a long-term desideratum of Czech historiography.

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