Knies Museum of the Moravian Karst in Sloup

The establishment of a geological-paleontological museum of the Moravian Karst in Sloup by Jan Knies (1860–1937) in 1906 was a most worthwhile achievement, as this museum was the first of its kind, not only in the Bohemian lands, but also in the whole of Europe. Although the museum only existed for 16 years, it played an important role in the field of scientific research, as well as in popularising the natural sciences and archaeology.

The grand opening of the Museum of the Moravian Karst was held by its founder Jan Knies, one of the greatest experts in the Palaeolithic settlement of Moravia at that time, on 8 July 1906; the opening ceremony was attended by around a thousand people. What is remarkable is that the establishment of the museum was financed from Knies’s own funds. The focus of the museum, in which Knies was backed by a number of experts, such as the palaeontologist Antonín Frič and the geologist Vladimír Josef Procházka, was on homeland studies and archaeology, and in a room measuring 12 × 8 metres it presented the geological formations of the Moravian Karst as well as some rich palaeontological finds (particularly ammonites). A significant part of Knies’s collection also consisted of osteological finds, and the museum exhibited the skeletons of smaller animals (such as mice, birds and foxes), as well as those of large animals such as the cave bear, mammoth and rhino. While it was open the museum was very popular with visitors; in 1909, for example, it was visited by 10 000 people. However, its appeal also attracted researchers from abroad. Knies published a series of postcards featuring not only photographs of the museum itself and its individual exhibits, but also the caves of the Moravian Karst in which many of Knies’s finds were discovered. After the First World War in 1919 Jan Knies left his job as a teacher in Sloup and went into retirement. Upon his retirement negotiations commenced on the sale of his collection, which were completed in 1922. Since then the collection has been part of the Moravian Museum in Brno, thus closing the Knies Museum of the Moravian Karst.

Kostrhun, P.: Cesty moravské paleolitické archeologie v období Československé republiky. Brno 2014, s. 104–118. 

Oliva, M., Golec, M, Kratochvíl, R., Kostrhun, P.: Jeskyně Býčí skála ve svých dějích a pradějích. Brno 2015, s. 191.