Monument to John Amos Comenius in Nivnice

1892, 1956  

The monument to the theologian, philosopher and educator John Amos Comenius (1592-1670) is in Nivnice, the village in south-eastern Moravia where Comenius was most likely born. However, the fate of the monument to this important personality, whose work is closely intertwined with the broad field of natural sciences within the framework of the pansophic/universal knowledge approach, was not easy and rather dramatic. 

 

Comenius is often seen primarily as an educator, but in his encyclopaedic work he also reflected the natural sciences in a holistic way - especially the broadly understood physics, and thus also chemistry, biology or physiology, as well as astronomy, geometry, geodesy or cartography. To this day it has not been fully established in which of the three places - Uherský Brod, Nivnice or Komňa - John Amos Comenius was born on 28 March 1592. Nivnice, however, is considered to be the most likely one. This is probably why a monument commemorating this important thinker`s 300th anniversary of birth was to be erected here in 1892. 

 

The construction of the monument to John Amos Comenius and its placement in Nivnice was instigated already in 1885 by the J. A. Comenius Teachers` Union from Uherský Brod. A public collection was organised to raise money for the construction of the monument, which was then created by the academic sculptor Antonín Beck from Kroměříž. However, the local parish priest Eduard Knoll opposed the placement of the monument in Nivnice, as he considered Comenius to be an infidel and a heretic. This is why, after long discussions, the monument was finally placed in front of the school in Uherský Brod. A a new monument to Comenius (a statue by Vincenc Makovský) was unveiled in this town in 1956, which led to the decision to put the original monument created in 1892 back in Nivnice. Today it stands in the John Amos Comenius Park in Nivnice. 

 

References

Červenka, J.: Komenský a přírodní vědy. In: Pedagogika, 3/1971, s. 415–441.

Kleckerová, M. H.: Sochy J. A. Komenského na Moravě. Přerov 1979.

Váňa, J., Červenka, J. a kol.: Vybrané spisy Jana Amose Komenského. Výbor ze spisů o filosofii a přírodě, sv. 5. Praha 1968.

 

Internetový zdroj:

Neznámý autor: Pomník Jana Amose Komenského. In: Obec Nivnice. URL: https://www.nivnice.cz/obec/turisticke-cile/pomnik-jana-amose-komenskeho-0_409.html [21. 9. 2021].

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