Josef Klvaňa

Josef Klvaňa (1857–1919) was an important Moravian patriot, schoolmaster, ethnographer and naturalist. During his lifetime he contributed significantly to the development of science and education in Moravia. He saw the founding of the Kyjov grammar school, which still functions today and bears his name. His estate is stored in the Museum of National History in Kyjov. 

Josef Klvaňa was born in Vienna. His family moved to Moravia when he was a little boy; one of their jobs was innkeeping. Klvaňa studied at the Piarist school in Lipník nad Bečvou and then at grammar school in Olomouc. Already during his high school years, he showed artistic talent and interest in natural sciences, especially mineralogy and geology. After graduation he began his studies at the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague. During his time in Prague, he met important figures of Czech cultural life and worked as an assistant in the mineralogical department of the Museum of the Kingdom of Bohemia in Prague (today the National Museum). In 1882 Klvaňa returned to Moravia where he taught at grammar schools in Kroměříž and Uherské Hradiště, and from 1898 almost until his death he was the headmaster of the Czech grammar school in Kyjov (established in 1898). He did research in natural sciences (especially mineralogy, but also zoology, botany and other fields) and also ethnographic and folklore research. He found plenty of stimuli for both interests in South Moravia and his investigations were summarized in a large number of publications. Here are a few examples: The European Pond Turtle in Moravia and in Silesia, The Mammoth Bones Deposits in Předmostí u Přerova, The Art of Scarf Tying in Moravian Slovácko. His activities included participation in the organisation of the important Ethnographic Exhibition in Prague in 1895. He also became a member of the Imperial Institute of Geology in Vienna and of the Czech Academy for Sciences, Literature and Arts and of many other associations and organizations. Emperor Franz Joseph I granted him the title Government Councillor.

Klvaňa was a man of truly broad cultural understanding and many professional interests. He studied the Moravian country from various angles: its geological past, present nature and culture, and he strived for its future education and a higher general standard of living for its inhabitants.

KOTÍK Vladimír, HYNEK Miloš: Josef Klvaňa. Vzpomínka ke 135. výročí narození. Vydalo Klvaňovo gymnázium v Kyjově, 1992.

Josef Klvaňa in 1914 (Author: copyright free)