''Lumír'' is a weekly

literary magazine A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry, and essays, along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letter ...

that was established in 1851 by

Ferdinand Břetislav Mikovec Ferdinand Břetislav Mikovec (14 December 1826, Sloup v Čechách – 22 September 1862, Prague) was a Czech writer, publisher, historian, theatre critic and nationalist. Life and work His father was the administrator of a manor house, and died w ...

. It was the focal point of the neo-romantic nationalist

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

Jaroslav Vrchlický Jaroslav Vrchlický (; 17 February 1853 – 9 September 1912) was a Czech lyrical poet. He was nominated for the Nobel prize in literature eight times. Life He was born Emilius Jakob Frida in Louny. He lived ten years with his uncle, a p ...

and his Ossianic followers.Arne Novák & William Edward Harkins, ''Czech literature'' , 1976: "These artistic leanings revealed the Lumir adherents as Neo-Romantics. Their enthusiasm for "restoring old paintings" was Romantic; Romantic was their ambition to integrate epic fragments into a unified "legend of an era;" Romantic was ..." Lumír is the name of a

bard In Celtic cultures, a bard is a professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or chieftain) to commemorate one or more of the patron's ancestors and to praise t ...

in Czech

legend A legend is a Folklore genre, genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human valu ...

. The magazine's followers were known by the same name as the magazine. The writers and artists involved started a new direction in Czech culture. Previously culture was seen as coming from Germans and sources in German. German poets like

Heinrich Heine Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was a German poet, writer and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of '' Lied ...

were translated poem by poem from German to Czech. With the emergence of the Lumir group, writers like Vrchlický,

Viktor Dyk Viktor Dyk (; 31 December 1877 – 14 May 1931) was a nationalist Czech poet, prose writer, playwright, politician and political writer. He was sent to jail during the First World War for opposing the Austro-Hungarian empire. He was one of the sign ...

and Julius Zeyer the focus turned towards Latin roots and the Anglo Saxon countries in particular. This cultural focus is said to have led other Czech intellectuals to also look in the same direction for scientific, economic and social ideas.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lumir Literary magazines published in the Czech Republic Magazines established in 1851 Czech-language magazines 1851 establishments in the Austrian Empire