Čáslav Museum

1885 

The beautiful Neo-Renaissance building of Čáslav Museum contains some diverse collections. It is testimony to the patriotism of the local people, who strove to raise up the entire nation by supporting science and education. It also offers unique evidence of the history of natural science research – the original exhibition of stuffed animals in the old 19th-century display cases. This lets us travel back to the times of overseas voyages and the great discoverers, when caught specimens were the only proof of the existence of exotic animal species.

 

The easing of the political situation in the Austrian Empire at the beginning of the 1860s allowed a great many associations to be founded. One of these was Včela Čáslavská (The Čáslav Bee), established in 1864 as a patriotic and natural science association. The society gradually amassed museum collections that were initially temporarily stored in various different places (at the town hall, etc.). The members of Včela Čáslavská were also involved in scientific research, published works and organised lectures and outings.

After decades of inactivity Včela Čáslavská was revived in the 1990s and continues to promote education and enlightenment to this day. 

The grand museum building was opened in 1885. The natural sciences collections it houses include around a thousand exhibits, a considerable number of which were donated by Včela Čáslavská. A large number of valuable exhibits were donated to the Museum by the patron Josef Kaunický (1820-1908). Born in nearby Černín, he trained as a carpenter. He focused on engineering and piano mechanics; travelling through Vienna, Budapest and Hamburg, he arrived in London, where he achieved great success and became very rich. Also, while he was in London he became greatly interested in the natural sciences, visited museums and attended lectures, and also became acquainted with the work of Charles Darwin. He used his savings to buy some very well stuffed zoological specimens, which he donated to the town.

The exhibition and display cases were inspired by British natural history museums. It is very fortunate that they have been preserved to this day; they were declared a cultural monument in 2018. Čáslav Museum is thus actually a museum of museums. 

Thanks to the wealth of precisely stuffed exotic animals the exhibition played a crucial part in educating the public at that time. In the age of film and the internet this is not so obvious, but in the past museums were the only way that most people were able to encounter exotic species of animals.

 

References

Interview se zaměstnanci muzea, Roman Figura, 9.10.2019

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