Moravské zemské muzeum (English: ''Moravian Museum'') is a

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

Brno Brno ( , ; ) is a Statutory city (Czech Republic), city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava (river), Svitava and Svratka (river), Svratka rivers, Brno has about 403,000 inhabitants, making ...

in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

. It is the second-largest and second-oldest museum in the country. Its collections include several million objects from many fields of science and culture.

Location

The museum's seat is located in Dietrichstein Palace in Zelný trh in the historic centre of

. It was built as a residence of Cardinal

Franz von Dietrichstein Franz Seraph von Dietrichstein (, 22 August 1570 – 19 September 1636), was an Austrian nobleman and cardinal, member of an ancient House of Dietrichstein, was the 1st Prince of Dietrichstein, Archbishop of Olomouc, Governor ( Landeshauptman ...

in 1613–1616. It was rebuilt in late Baroque style at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries and become one of the largest

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

buildings in Brno.

History

The Moravian Museum was founded in July 1817 by a decree of Emperor

Francis II Francis II may refer to: * Francis II, Duke of Brittany (1433–1488) * Francesco II Gonzaga, Marquess of Mantua (1466–1519), ruler of the Italian city of Mantua * Francis II of France (1544–1560), king of France * Francis II, Duke of Lorraine ...

. Science figures such as Christian Carl André, Count Josef Auersperg, Count Hugo-František Salm-Reifferscheid, or Antonín Bedřich Mitrovský were involved in the establishment of the museum.

Beethoven score manuscript

Following the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia, the Petschek family, a wealthy

Czech Jewish The history of the Jews in the Czech lands, historically the Lands of the Bohemian Crown, including the modern Czech Republic (i.e. Bohemia, Moravia, and the southeast or Czech Silesia), goes back at least 1100 years. There is evidence that ...

family involved in banking and the mining industry, fled to the US. They attempted to send by post a prized family possession, the original score of the fourth movement of

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

's String Quartet No. 13. However, it was intercepted by the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

. The Nazis asked an expert from the Moravian Museum to verify the authenticity of the score. The expert recognized Beethoven's handwriting, but in order to save the manuscript from being

looted Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...

he lied to the Nazis and said it was not authentic. The Museum was then allowed to keep it. It remained with the Moravian Museum for more than 80 years. The Nazis seized most of the Petschek family's assets and possessions, which Czechoslovakia's Communist regime nationalized after the war. Franz Petschek, who had run the family's mining businesses in Czechoslovakia, tried from his new home in the US to get the piece back but got scant sympathy from the Communist government. In August 2022, the Moravian Museum di take the decision to return the manuscript to the heirs of the Petschek family, adhering to the Terezin Declaration which urged governments to make every effort to return former Jewish properties confiscated by the Nazis, fascists and their collaborators to their original owners. Before returning the Beethoven score, the museum exhibited it for five days. It had not been exhibited earlier during the museum's prolonged custody of it. The museum considered it one of the most precious items in its collections.

Exhibitions

The museum has several exhibition spaces in Brno: *Dietrichstein Palace *Bishop's Courtyard * Mendelianum *Palace of Noble Ladies *Anthropos Pavilion (created by

Karel Absolon Karel Absolon (16 June 1877 – 6 October 1960) was a Czech archaeologist, geographer, paleontologist, and speleologist. He was born in Boskovice. Absolon was the grandchild of paleontologist Jindřich Wankel. During his studies at Charle ...

) * Mushroom Gatherers' Consultation Place *

Leoš Janáček Leoš Janáček (, 3 July 1854 – 12 August 1928) was a Czech composer, Music theory, music theorist, Folkloristics, folklorist, publicist, and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian folk music, Moravian and other Slavs, Slavic music, includin ...

Memorial *

Jiří Gruša Jiří Gruša (10 November 1938, in Pardubice – 28 October 2011, in Bad Oeynhausen) was a Czech poet, novelist, translator, diplomat and politician.Jevišovice Jevišovice () is a town in Znojmo District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 1,200 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an urban monument zone. Geography Jevišovice is locate ...

*Budišov Castle in

Budišov Budišov () is a market town in Třebíč District in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 1,200 inhabitants. Administrative division Budišov consists of two municipal parts (in brackets population according to the 2021 census ...

*Moravec Castle in Moravec *Memorial of

Kralice Bible The Bible of Kralice, also called the Kralice Bible (), was the first complete translation of the Bible from the original languages into Czech. Translated by the Unity of the Brethren and printed in Kralice nad Oslavou, the first edition had ...

Kralice nad Oslavou Kralice nad Oslavou (until 1960 Kralice) is a municipality and village in Třebíč District in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 1,000 inhabitants. Administrative division Kralice nad Oslavou consists of two municipal parts ...

*Centre for Slavonic Archaeology in

Uherské Hradiště Uherské Hradiště (; ) is a town in the Zlín Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 25,000 inhabitants. The agglomeration with the two neighbouring towns of Staré Město (Uherské Hradiště District), Staré Město and Kunovice has over ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Moravske Zemske Muzeum Museums in Brno History museums in the Czech Republic Natural history museums Historic house museums in the Czech Republic Printing press museums Science museums in the Czech Republic Museums established in 1817 1817 establishments in the Austrian Empire