THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SLOVAK MUSEUMS AND HERITAGE AUTHORITIES IN THE 19TH AND EARLY 20TH CENTURIES

/ABSTRAKT: Slovak museums began to form mainly in the 2nd half of the 19th century and their development was only marginally connected with the development of heritage protection in the Kingdom of Hungary. With the establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic, the relationship between heritage authorities and museums was to change fundamentally. The basic prerequisites for this were created by the founding of the Government Commissariat for the Preservation of Monuments, or its successor, the State Office for Heritage Protection, which encompassed the organisation of museums in Slovakia. The contribution aims to point out the relationships between heritage authorities and museums in Slovakia, mainly in the 2nd half of the 19th and 1st half of the 20th century.


Introduction
Museum culture in Slovakia had in broad outline a similar development as the culturally and historically more advanced parts of Western Europe.In the history of Slovakia, we can also identify several basic development stages of museums, starting with collecting activities, creation of collections, through various museum ideas, the origins of institutionalisation of the first museum facilities, to the development of museums and creation of a solid, well-organised museum network.
It is important to say that the beginnings of Slovak museums were in many regards largely inspired by Western Europe and its cultural and historical development.It has influenced both the form of the creation of collections, and their later institutionalisation and the founding of museums.However, this does not mean that there are no differences and, in particular, several domestic specifics.Perhaps the most significant difference in comparison with the development of museums in Western Europe was the time delay,2 conditioned in the later stages of development by problems with funding, but also by a biased cultural policy, following only the interests of selected parts of society.
Until 1918, the territory of Slovakia formed an integral component of the Hungarian part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.Its society changed significantly from the point of view of cultural development, mainly due to the influence of Enlightenment at the end of the 18th century and the impact of important social and historical milestones, such as the Hungarian revolution in the mid--19th century and the so-called Austro-Hungarian Settlement of 1867.The Austro-Hungarian Settlement subsequently began to be reflected in the formation and main characteristics of Hungarian educational and cultural policy.The concept of the Hungarian nation that began to take shape mainly since the end of the 18th century as part of the Hungarian national revival, its uniqueness, cultural identity, level and manifestations became an important element in the Hungarian part of the monarchy, which was not evident only in the formation of cultural policy.This concept affected also the other public policies in many ways.It manifested itself in the gradual preference of mainly the Hungarian culture and language of the majority nation, at the expense of the languages of minorities, and had a significant impact on their cultural development.However, "Natio hungarica" also had a positive influence in many regards.It showed up as an increased interest in culture and cultural heritage, which finally resulted in the effort to enhance these areas of social development.However, the tragic inability to overcome the linguistic and cultural boundaries of the ethnic majority remained negative in such concept of cultural policy.
One of the more significant manifestations of cultural identity was the establishment of the Hungarian National Museum and the National Széchényi Library, which supplemented the then isolated Hungarian Archives, today's National Archives of Hungary in Budapest.The new museum and library, which were founded at the beginning of the 19th century and gradually started to develop their first activities in the 1st half of the 19th century, undoubtedly gave an important impulse to the nascent museum culture in Slovakia.However, it was also inspired by the founding of the Patriotic Museum in Bohemia (later the Museum of the Kingdom of Bohemia and today the National Museum in Prague) in 1818. 3so in Slovakia, the national revival acted as one of the important factors since the end of the 18th century.It was also reflected in collecting activities as a specific means of finding one's own national identity, leading to several efforts to create a national museum.
It is worth noting that the interest in other types of monuments in the Kingdom of Hungary has also followed its own path.In Hungary, monument was initially perceived and presented mainly as old building and architecture, 4 i.e. mainly from the point of view of monumentology, although the preservation of antiquities 5 was also discussed.Even here, however, the revival process and the perception of the monument as an evidence of identity of one's own nation and its cultural expression became a kind of imaginary accelerator.Gradually, especially under the pressure of the national revival, the social perception of the term monument began to change as well.The shift mainly occurred in the perception of cultural heritage not only as monumental architecture, especially sacred historical buildings and related facilities, but the gradual incorporation of fine art and artistic craftwork also began.The monument already covered direct evidence of the past, because having an own and rich history was understood as one of the basic elements of national identity.At that time, mainly archival, but also material sources gained importance.Material culture,  v 19.storočí.Monumentórum revue, 2017, vol.6,  no. 1, pp. 66-69.documenting the development of society and concentrated in collections of various nature, as well as in-depth research of the language, literature, traditions and typical customs, which we would today class among a wider group of mentefacts, also gained value.

Museum culture and heritage management in Slovakia until the creation of Czechoslovakia
The origins of Slovak museums should be sought mainly in the collecting activities of aristocratic families, wealthy burghers, but also scholars and learned societies, which could be chronologically delimited mainly by the 16th-18th centuries.In this pre--museum period, in addition to the collections of important noble families (e.g.Andrássy, 6 Forgách, Révai, Pálffy, Csáki, Zichy, etc.), 7 many of whom later made their collections available to the public, 8 burgher collectors were also known. 9 Solid foundations for the creation of scientific collections, however, were mainly formed by various learned societies.In this regard, too, the associations in Slovakia were in their activity significantly behind Western Europe, where, mainly due to the influence of Enlightenment ideas that spread in England, France and Germany already in the late 16th and 17th centuries, 10 empiricism and polymathy came to the fore.On these foundations, the first scientific society in London (Royal Society) was established in 1662, which built its own collection (museum) with natural science and history objects. 11In Slovakia, learned societies were practically not established until the 2nd half of the 18th century.We can mention the oldest, Societas erudita, which was founded in Bratislava in 1761, but also Societas slavica in Banská Bystrica (1785), or Societas ex totius Monarchiae Austriae (1782) in Rimavská Sobota.
Literary societies, already associated with the Slovak national revival, educational goals and efforts to anchor the Slovak language standard as one of the basic signs of national identity, were also significantly active in the field of collecting.We can mention the Slovak Learned Society (1792), or the Institute of Czechoslovak Language and Literature at the Evangelic Lutheran Lyceum in Bratislava (1801). 12In this context, we cannot miss out the importance of school cabinet collections, which are also mainly related to the 18th and then to the 19th century and later laid the foundations for the creation of museums.These cabinet collections are mainly known from Košice, Prešov and Rimavská Sobota. 13eas about the creation of a museum appeared in the Slovak national environment already at the end of the 18th century, but especially subsequently in the 1st half of the 19th century.The idea of creating a national museum that would represent the Slovak nation and its culture became significant.These efforts resonated among well--known revivalist personalities, such as Juraj Ribay, Martin Hamaliar, Jonáš Bohumil Guoth, or Ján Čaplovič, Ján Kollár, Pavol Jozef Šafárik, but also many others 14 who with their collecting activities and education tried to point out the importance of such an institution in the national movement.
The above-mentioned efforts were put into practice when, after attempts to establish a museum of the Tatrín Association (1844) and after the officially proclaimed creation of the Collection of Slovak memorabilities, 15   Múzeum,  1988, vol. 34, no. 3, pp.36-38.15 RYBECKÝ, Milan.Muzeálna slovenská spoločnosť a jej miesto v národnej kultúre.Príspevok k dejinám slovenského múzejníctva.Martin: Osveta,  1983, p. 11.   spatial problems, the Museum of Matica slovenská already opened its collections to the public in Martin in 1869. 16Although this museum and its collections began to develop in a promising way, with the official suspension of the activities of Matica slovenská in 1875 and the confiscation of its property, it was finally dissolved.The museum's national efforts were in many respects later continued by the Slovak Museum Association (1893), in the background of which stood the newly founded Slovak Scientific Association and the personality of Andrej Kmeť. 17One of the goals of the Slovak Museum Association was to create a Slovak national museum, which was finally achieved.The newly established institution was initially named simply as the Museum and its headquarters became the town of Martin. 18The museum was a direct predecessor of the present--day Slovak National Museum, so the idea of creating an institution of national significance was finally put into practice at the end of the 19th century.
In addition to this national trend in Slovak museum sphere, which was primarily based on the revivalist efforts, the situation in the territory of Slovakia in the 16 Ibidem, p. 28  Múzeum, 1966, vol.11, no. 4, p. 27;  RYBECKÝ, Milan.Zástoj Národného domu v Martine vo vývine slovenského múzejníctva.Múzeum, 1966, vol.11, no. 2, pp.34 2nd half of the 19th century gave rise also to necessary prerequisites for a wider institutionalisation of collecting activities.We have already mentioned the existence of private as well as associational collections, and in this period, in connection with the new cultural policy pursued in Hungary, state funding also began to be applied to support the establishment of cultural institutions. 19veral scientific associations tried to make their rich collections available.These collections were mainly created for the needs of developing the scientific activity in individual interest associations, but the idea of sharing their content with the lay public gradually became dominant.The first such example was the natural history association in Bratislava, founded in 1856.Its collections were partly made available as early as 1865. 20Bratislava thus became the first town in Slovakia with an own museum institution, and in 1868, the Bratislava Beautifying Association with a direct support of the town laid the foundations of a second museum, the present--day Bratislava City Museum. 21 20 JURKOVIĆ, Miloš.Z dejín prírodovedného múzejníctva na Slovensku -1.časť.Múzeum,  1972, vol.17, no. 1, pp. 20-22.21 HYROSS, Peter.130 rokov Mestského múzea v Bratislave.Múzeum, 1998, vol.44, no. 3,  p. 23; GAUČÍK, Štefan.Peripetie múzejníctva v Bratislave v zrkadle života po 1. svetovej vojne.In HUPKO, Daniel and Luděk BENEŠ (eds.).Dokumentácia "osmičkových" výročí v slovenských a českých múzeách.Rok 1918 a tie ostatné.Banská Bystrica: Zväz múzeí na Slovensku, 2018, pp.111-112.22 KARASKA, Dušan and Iveta FLOREKOVÁ.130 rokov Oravského múzea.Múzeum, 1998, vol.44, no. 3, pp.19-22; PAŽÚR, Štefan.100   Štiavnica -1884-1900). 24During the 2nd half of the 19th century, in fact until the end of the interwar period, one of the problematic areas of the history of Slovak museums was mainly the absence of period definitions and distinctions between the terms collection and museum.In some cases, it is therefore problematic to distinguish whether it was just a collection that was simply made available to the public or whether it was already a functioning museum institution. 253 MRUŠKOVIČ, Michal, Jolana DARULOVÁ and Štefan KOLLÁR.Múzejníctvo, muzeológia a kultúrne dedičstvo.Banská Bystrica: Univerzita Mateja Bela, 2005, pp.44-45.24 BODOROVÁ, Oľga.120 rokov Gemersko--malohontského múzea.Múzeum, 2002, vol.48,  no. 4, pp.1018; BENKO, Ladislav.Sto rokov  Spišského múzea v Levoči.Múzeum, 1987, vol.33,  no. 1, pp. 34-39; MÁCZA, Michal.Múzeum  v Komárne storočné.Múzeum, 1987, vol.33, no. 2,  pp.47-53; 100 rokov múzea v Komárne.1886-1986.Komárno  (1912). 27om the above thus follows that the Slovak museum sphere accessed the Czechoslovak Republic with an essentially undeveloped and poorly organised museum network.The regional distribution of museum institutions was uneven and completely uncontrolled.The then Hungarian heritage administration, which has been operating for several years, did not help either.It was primarily based on the interest in historical architecture, and although the Hungarian heritage administration was separated from the Austrian one, 28 it took quite možnosti a východiská rozvoja.Museologica Brunensia, 2020, vol.9, no. 1, pp. 1-11.Similar problems in Czech museum historiography were addressed, for example, by P. Šopák, ŠOPÁK, Pavel.Muzea a české země (1814-2014): výzva k revizi historiografické tradice.Muzeológia a kultúrne dedičstvo, 2015, vol.3, no. 1, pp. 9-20;  analogously also KUZMA, Viktoriia.Establishment and development of the Zakarpattia Regional Art Museum during the Soviet and post-Soviet period.Muzeológia a kultúrne dedičstvo, 2022, vol. 10,  no. 3, pp.33-42.26 TIŠLIAR, Pavol.Inštitucionalizácia pamäťových a fondových zariadení v 50. a 60. rokoch 20.storočia v okrese Rožňava Príspevok k výskumu regionálnej kultúrnej politiky a kultúrnej stratégie 2. pol.20.storočia na Slovensku.Muzeológia a kultúrne dedičstvo,  2016, vol.4, no.2, p. 80.   27 BOHUŠ, Ivan.Slovenské múzeá a prvá svetová vojna.Múzeum, 1958, vol.5, no. 2, pp.76 that received state support for their development.It was supposed to organise professional courses for museum administrators, but also to provide for the potential mobility of collections.Regional inspectors exercised supervision of museum collections, checked their storage, arrangement and protection, and monitored the overall activity of museums.The inspectors were expected to send prepared reports from the supervisory activities to the chief inspector in Budapest. 35rom the above, it is clear that the priority was the supervision of state museums and libraries (scientific), which at the same time accepted and identified themselves with the cultural and national policy pursued in Hungary at that time. 36n institution which did not accept these principles was disqualified and lost the opportunity to receive financial support from the state.For the museums, which were mostly operated under various interest associations, this financial support from the state was not negligible.For example, the Slovak Museum Association in Martin thus had to give up a state contribution in the amount of 600 crowns per year for its activities. 37 The supreme authority of public administration and power became here the Minister of CSR with Full Competence for the Administration of Slovakia.This empowered minister acquired dictatorial powers aimed at solving as good as all internal problems of Slovakia.He headed the departments that corresponded with individual ministries in Prague. 40Since the creation of CSR, Slovakia held the state of emergency open, which affected the area of cultural heritage already in the first days of Czechoslovakia's existence.The Interim National Assembly of Czechoslovakia adopted a law prohibiting the export of cultural objects already on 29 October 1918. 41It primarily concerned the museum collections and archives, but it should be emphasized that this ban had no effect on private collections and archives.Thus, despite this ban, large sets of artworks, various artefacts and other objects were exported from the territory of Slovakia.An often mentioned example in this context is the partial removal of collections from the museums in Košice, Nitra, Banská Štiavnica and Kremnica. 42chives, the administration of state museums, organisation of museums, collecting activities, trade in antiques, but also the protection of natural and historical monuments, heritage laws, registers, the archive of monuments, the photometric institute and inventories of the state's artistic property came under the competence of the Ministry of Education and National 40 MVSR -Štátny archív v Bratislave (ŠABA), f.Slúžnovský úrad v Trnave, 1856-1922,  box no. 5, sign.no.202/1919 adm.; ŠABA,  f.Bratislavská župa I., 1398-1922, box  in the fields of museums 46 and museum management. 47spite the broadly defined areas of competence, architectural monuments remained the priority of the Government Commissariat.In 1919, the prominent Slovak architect Dušan Jurkovič became the head of the government department. 48He was mainly known for using folk motifs in his own architectural work.The Government Commissariat in its activities did not directly follow up on the work of the Hungarian heritage authorities.It actually started from the very beginning, and therefore one of its main tasks was to create a new register of monuments.In addition to the architect D. Jurkovič, Jan Ješek Hofman also worked here as officer in the field of monuments protection. 49J. Hofman came from Czech lands and he had practical work experience from the Waldes Museum in Prague.He worked as an expert in art history, as well as a lecturer in the fields of museums and heritage protection in the art history seminar at the newly founded Comenius University in Bratislava. 50The agenda of the Commissariat originally also encompassed the areas of folk and modern art, which were in charge of the officers Josef Vydra and Antonín Václavík.Officers in other fields, such as theatre (Vilém Mathesius), music, literature and the public education agenda (Milan Svoboda) worked here temporarily.Finally, Ján Reichert, who was in charge of the department of nature protection, was also active here. 51In September 1919 already, there was an attempt to unite all the above-mentioned areas into one umbrella institution, which should have had the working designation "commissariat for national enlightenment in Slovakia".This commissariat was supposed to fall within the competence of MŠANO and, politically, within the competence of the empowered minister with full competence for the administration of Slovakia. 52he entire agenda of the newly created function of the inspector of archives and libraries was initially supposed to fall under the government department. 53  1850-1950.In Monumentorum Tutela 10, 1973, p. 33.54 TIŠLIAR, Pavol.Aktivity Štátneho inšpektorátu archívov a knižníc na Slovensku pri bu dovaní archívnej organizácie (1919-1951).Muzeológia a kultúrne dedičstvo, 2013, vol. 1,  no. 2, p. 38.   was also referred to as the "enlightenment department" of the Ministry with Full Competence for the Administration of Slovakia. 55he fields of heritage protection and museums remained the responsibility of the Government Commissariat, which mainly dealt with subsidizing of museums. 56 1922, however, the Government Commissariat was reorganised.On its foundations, the State Office for Heritage Protection was created.It was headed by J. Hofman who replaced D. Jurkovič.Perhaps the biggest change in the status of this heritage authority was its subordination to the inspector of archives and libraries in May 1922. 57e can only speculate that this could also be one of the reasons for Jurkovič's departure from the heritage office, which he helped to build up, and which, practically since the very beginning, lacked mainly financial resources for the proper development of its activities.With the reorganisation of the Government Commissariat and the creation of the state commission, the relationship with museums remained as good as unchanged.Museum inspectors supervised the administration of museums in practice, but their competence and influence were minimal. 58 East Slovak Museum in Košice. 59he management of museums in Slovakia, together with the State Office, which can be formally described as the organisational and administrative body of museums in Slovakia, was partly directed by the newly founded Union of Czechoslovak Museums.It was founded in September 1919 as a volunteer organisation uniting and coordinating the activities of museums in Czechoslovakia. 60The Union of Museums, together with the State Office, recommended financial contributions for member museums.However, Slovak museums only very slowly became members of this voluntary association, 61 which meant that many were excluded from the subsidy support as non-members.
It cannot be concluded that the position of Slovak museums would have improved significantly with the creation of the Czechoslovak Republic.Effective legislation that would address the legal status of museums, define their roles in society and create space for the implementation of a unified and functional network of museums was primarily lacking.This legislative base was necessary mainly for practical reasons, as the Slovak museum sphere was largely fragmented and unmanaged.After the creation of Czechoslovakia,  2020, vol.9, no. 1, pp. 21-27.Parallel to the Czechoslovak union, there was also a professional organisation of German museum workers in Czechoslovakia.KIRSCH, Otakar.(Po)zapomenutí nositelé paměti: německé muzejnictví na Moravě.Brno: Paido, 2014, pp.70-82.61 KAČÍREK, Ľuboš and Pavol TIŠLIAR.
Slovenské múzejníctvo v medzivojnovom období, možnosti a východiská rozvoja.Museologica Brunensia, 2020, vol.9, no. 1, pp. 7-8.museums did not become the centre of attention of Slovak (Czechoslovak) culture, quite the opposite.This was fully reflected in as good as all areas, from the state funding through the effort to increase the professionalism of museum activities to the solution of urgent problems related to the recording and protection of collections.Therefore, most museums rather eked out a living, being far closer to museum stores of collections than to active and productive professional work, and their activity was almost zero.
At the time when the Czechoslovak Republic was founded, 24 museums and collections were operated in Slovakia. 62As we have already mentioned, museums in Slovakia had a whole range of founders.There were only three state museums with regular funding left after the creation of CSR: the former Upper Hungarian Museum, renamed the State East Slovak Museum in Košice, and two former county museums in Nitra and Bardejov.The Dionýz Štúr mining museum in Banská Štiavnica (1927) was added to them later.Most museums were founded by various associations, although some were interested in being put under state control.An example of this can be the later Slovak National Museum, which unsuccessfully applied for being put under state control as early as 1919. 63Slovak museums suffered from many ills in the interwar period.The most 62 In literature, there is no accordance about the number of museum institutions after the creation of CSR.In most cases, 23-24 museums are mentioned.It is related to the insufficiently resolved definition of the term museum.The handbook of school and educational work mentions the existence of a significantly larger number of museums and collections in Slovakia: PLACHT, Otto and František HAVELKA (eds.).Příručka školské a osvětové správy: Pro potřebu služby školských a osvětových úřadů a orgánů.Praha: Státní nakladatelství, 1934, pp.1698-1699.63 KAČÍREK, Ľuboš and Pavol TIŠLIAR.
Slovenské múzejníctvo v medzivojnovom období, možnosti a východiská rozvoja.Museologica Brunensia, 2020, vol.9, no. 1, p. 10.   serious were mainly financial problems that threatened the mere existence and could, especially in the case of private collections, end with the complete liquidation of a collection.The lack of funds was reflected in the under-staffing of museum institutions, when the overwhelming majority of facilities were staffed only by volunteers, or at best by people on small-time jobs.Another problem was the non-conceptual and unsystematic work, especially in the field of professional recording and management of collections, which, however, began to improve mainly thanks to the work of the Union of Museums.The absence of a unified management of the museum network resulted in problems with basic museum activities.Also in the interwar period, museums were created independently and spontaneously, in some cases they directly competed with each other, supplemented their collections with identical objects and did not have sufficient protection of the collections against destruction.
In the interwar period, Slovak museums have gradually developed, but we cannot speak of any high merit of the Slovak heritage authorities, which were supposed to coordinate the activities of museums in many regards.On the other hand, it should be mentioned that the State Office had neither enough professional staff nor enough funds.Moreover, there was a problem with the nature of museums, among which the private ones prevailed.Therefore, creating a unified and effective museum network in which museums would not compete with each other was difficult in such a situation, all the more so because, as already mentioned, there was no museum legislation, which would certainly help this process.
Museums in Slovakia in the interwar period can be divided into several groups according to their territorial scope.The Museum in Martin, later renamed the Slovak National Museum in Martin, declared itself a museum with nationwide scope of activity.
In the 1920s, it began to compete with the Slovak National History Museum, which was established in Bratislava in 1924 and was initially housed in a joint building with the Agriculture and Forestry Museum. 64It was co-founded by employees of the State Office, especially J. Hofman, but also A. Václavík and V. Chaloupecký as the inspector of archives and libraries. 65The most numerous museums in Slovakia were municipal and regional museums.Among them, the most important position was occupied by the State East Slovak Museum in Košice, which was largely due to its director Josef Polák.The first specialized museums were also created in the interwar period.After the creation of Czechoslovakia, besides the aforementioned Museum of Mining and Metallurgy in Rožňava, which was established at the beginning of the 20th century, the Agricultural Museum in Bratislava was founded as a branch of the National Museum of Agriculture in Prague.Also founded was the Forestry Museum in Bratislava, the already mentioned Dionýz Štúr mining museum in Banská Štiavnica, but also a specialized natural history museum in Liptovský Mikuláš focused on the research of Slovak caves.It was built on the basis of the so-called Liptov collection of Ján Volko-Starohorský.The phenomenon of church museums should also be mentioned.The Jewish Museum in Prešov, the Diocesan Museum in Spišská Kapitula, and finally the František Richard Osvald Museum, which   64 VALACHOVIČ, Pavol.Slovenské vlastivedné   múzeum v Bratislave (1924-1939).In Zborník Slovenského národného múzea -História, vol.24.Martin: Osveta, 1984, p. 260.65 Ibidem, p. 256.was operated under the Society of St. Adalbert in Trnava.66

Project of the Museum of Liberated Slovakia by an employee of the Government Commissariat
The founding of new museums in Slovakia after the creation of CSR continued to have a spontaneous and unorganised nature, in which neither MŠANO nor the State Office as its subordinate component brought order in the interwar period.There was no approval of new initiatives and proposals or their potential guidance. 67Paradoxically enough, one of the ill-conceived proposals for the creation of a new museum was even created in the Heritage Office.It was a proposal by the aforementioned officer from the Government Commissariat for the Preservation of Monuments in Slovakia, Antonín Václavík, who on 15 March 1920 presented his idea of creating the Museum of Liberated Slovakia 68 to the MŠANO.The socalled liberation museums enjoyed great popularity after the creation of CSR, especially in the western part of Czechoslovakia. 69The new museum was to be based in Bratislava.The proposal was brief, even so much that it did not even include information on who should cover this project financially as the founder.
The Museum of Liberated Slovakia was intended to be located in the Grassalkovich Palace in Bratislava (today the residence of the President of the Slovak Republic).Its basis should have been a collection called the Liberation of Slovakia, which was to contain material mainly for the documentation of the pre--war and post-war periods.We can only speculate that by this the author probably meant the documentation of the entire process of Slovakia's incorporation into the Czechoslovak Republic.The period was not defined chronologically.
As regards the organisation issues, the museum was to be divided into two departments.The first was to be the Department of General Štefánik, linked to the personality of General Milan Rastislav Štefánik.He was an important Slovak politician who significantly contributed to the establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic and subsequently served for a short time until his death as the Minister of War of the Czechoslovak Republic.M. R. Štefánik died in an aircraft accident in May 1919, and already  in 1919, not only in Slovakia, relatively significant efforts were made to honour this personality of modern Slovak history.These efforts did not arise only in political, but also in cultural and social circles and resulted in the cult of the founder of Czechoslovak and Slovak statehood.At last, the Czechoslovak government also honoured him in a special way. 70As early as 1919, at the initiative of the Czechoslovak government, significant efforts were made to acquire the estate of M. R. Štefánik and integrate it specifically into the museum environment.In this context, in 70 MACHO, Peter.Pozostalosť Milana Rastislava Štefánika v kontexte inštitucionálnych a rodinných záujmov v medzivojnovom a vojnovom období.Muzeológia a kultúrne dedičstvo, 2017, vol.5, no. 1, p. 58.1920, the Czechoslovak government also approved a proposal for the establishment of a special Štefánik Museum, 71 although it was finally not implemented for several reasons.However, the idea of establishing a Štefánik Museum was also discussed later, especially in 1921 and 1922.It was supposed to be located in Bratislava, and in this context, the use of the Grassalkovich Palace for these purposes was primarily mentioned.However, the Resistance Memorial in Prague was also interested in Štefánik's estate and it eventually acquired Štefánik's collections, which thus became part of the Museum of Czechoslovak Legions, in which the general was involved. 72e special department dedicated to Štefánik in Václavík's proposal for the Museum of Liberated Slovakia from 1920 must be seen in the context of that time.As a part of the planned liberation museum, it certainly had its justification.The department was supposed to focus especially on the general's personality and gather up collection items and documents concerning his relatively extensive activity in the fields of politics, military, but also science.
Štefánik's department should not have been the only one.A second department was to be created, the purpose of which was to capture significant changes in folk art, which, according to Václavík, were taking place at that time. 73By this Václavík probably meant the changes related to the creation of Czechoslovakia.A. Václavík gave this department the working title Department of Contemporary Folk Art.The basis of its collections were mainly Slovak products, 71 Ibidem.72 Ibidem, pp.64-65.73 Národní archiv České republiky v Praze (NAČR), f.Ministerstvo školství a národní osvěty (MŠANO), box 3252, sign.22151/1920.which were exhibited at the Slovak May exhibition in Bratislava.At that time, it was being prepared as an exhibition of Czechoslovak art that was planned to be held from 30 April to 30 May 1920. 74he introduction of this special department is rather indicative of an ill-conceived proposal, as the initial focus and specialization were apparently supposed to go thematically in a different direction.The other proposed components of the collections of the planned museum are also conceived in the same spirit.
In addition to the aforementioned internal structure of the planned museum, it is necessary to include a library, which was to be created from donations and the purchase of Rízner library, which at that time was owned by the Association of Moravian Artists in Hodonín. 75other collection, which A. Václavík incorporated into the proposal, was designated as Donations.This collection was to be made up of various material donations from Slovak municipalities.However, the municipalities were allegedly specially invited to donate a pair of local folk costumes.By this he probably meant the female and male variants of traditional folk costumes.Since A. Václavík was originally an ethnographer and folklorist, he had a stronger relationship with material culture.This was reflected not only in the mentioned group of collections, where he mainly emphasized folk clothing, but under point number 8 he also proposed to create a separate ethnographic collection, which should be built mainly from on-site acquisitions (purchases).Within the museum, he also suggested creating "faithful interiors" typical of individual regions.He directly specified two of them in the proposal when he mentioned the interiors from Čataj and Vajnory, which he proposed to be funded by the Bratislava County.Other interiors typical of individual regions -historical counties in Slovakia -were to be financed by the respective counties.A. Václavík had been building the ethnographic collection from the funds of the Government Commissariat since 1919.This collection eventually became part of the Slovak National History Museum in Bratislava. 76pparently, the existence of this collection was the reason why A. Václavík included it in the concept of the Museum of Liberated Slovakia.
However, the Museum of Liberated Slovakia was probably not supposed to be established entirely on a "greenfield site".A. Václavík specifically proposed to include already existing collections, which were supposed to enrich the emerging museum.He mentioned the acquisition of the Kretz collections, which we could not identify in more detail, but also the collections of the association for household industry Izabella, based in Bratislava.It was an important association that dealt with the organisation of needlework teaching and provided income to peasant women of western Slovakia in the field of craft productioncreation of embroideries, dresses, blouses, headwear, etc., which contained motifs of Slovak folk costumes.Before the World War I, 76 VALACHOVIČ, Pavol.Slovenské vlastivedné múzeum v Bratislave (1924-1939).In Zborník Slovenského národného múzea -História, vol.24.Martin: Osveta, 1984, p. 256.as much as 18 workshops belonged to the association.Before the creation of Czechoslovakia, the association was operated under the umbrella of Archduchess Isabella of Habsburg Teschen Croÿ, wife of Archduke Friedrich.The association produced various embroideries, which were successfully sold mainly abroad. 77The embroideries were also successful at numerous exhibitions in Western Europe, as well as overseas.With the demise of the monarchy, the association basically disappeared.The sale of embroidery continued after the creation of Czechoslovakia through the company Detva. 78 addition to the above-mentioned collections, the museum proposal also included the collections of the city museum.However, this would mean that the concept was not created as the third museum in Bratislava, besides the city museum and the natural history museum that have already existed for years, but apparently had the ambition to directly cover the "Bratislava" collections, and therefore also the Bratislava museums as a whole.Moreover, the Museum of Liberated Slovakia was also supposed to contain collections of Slovak fine art, the basis of which were to be the works from the aforementioned spring exhibition Slovak May, as well as the collections of seized factories in Slovakia, without further specification.This last mentioned group of collections was added to the proposal below Václavík's signature and was not part of the original draft.
museums", which were not specified in more detail.We can only speculate that they should have been represented by substitutes, copies, models and mock-ups primarily used for the presentation purposes of the new museum.In the end, this concept was not implemented.The ill-conceived proposal, which combined the theme of the creation of the Czechoslovak Republic and incorporation of Slovakia into Czechoslovakia on the one hand, and the creation of an ethnographic collection, collections of fine art (on a nationwide scale) etc. on the other hand, was probably based on the availability of material culture and art that the Government Commissariat acquired, or had the opportunity to obtain.

Conclusion
In the 2nd half of the 19th century, the collecting activities in the territory of present-day Slovakia began to be gradually institutionalised.Ideas for the creation of museum institutions arose in the context of revival movements with an effort to prove one's own culture and national identity, but also to stand out from the direction of Hungarian cultural policy.Associational and municipal museums were created with the main aim to use the accumulated collections.Heritage authorities, which were already established in the mid-19th century and were based in Vienna, had as good as zero influence on Hungary, all the more so after the Austro--Hungarian Settlement came into being in 1867.Already in the 1840s, the Hungarian scientific elites tried to create their own heritage administration, which was initially dominated by architectural monuments, but gradually also the protection of movable heritage came to the fore.While the Heritage Commission in Budapest paid attention particularly to the inventorying and categorization of historical sacred architecture, at the end of the 19th century in Hungary, a specialized function of the chief inspector of museums and libraries was established, focused on the management and supervision of museum institutions that were predominantly controlled by the state.The inspector was responsible for allocating state subsidies for museum activities under certain conditions.After the creation of Czechoslovakia, these competences devolved upon MŠANO, which delegated the inspector to the MPS in Bratislava as the highest Slovak administrative authority.In Bratislava, the Government Commissariat for the Preservation of Monuments was created as one of the departments which was subject not only to the MPS, but also to MŠANO, and after a short time and reorganisation, the State Office was established.Heritage authorities in Slovakia had broadly defined competences, but for several reasons they were ultimately unable to use them to improve the quality of the museum network in Slovakia.This leads us to the conclusion that, in some regards, the heritage authorities had real opportunity to influence the development of Slovak museums in the interwar period.It is undoubtedly a shame that the State Office or its predecessor, the Government Commissariat, did not use their influence and capabilities to at least formulate a draft of the foundations of museum legislation.It would certainly create at least a framework in which the Slovak museums could have continued to develop.Slovak museums thus had to wait until the beginning of the 1960s, when the Museum Act came into force.
100 rokov múzea v Komárne.1886-1986.Komárno: Oblastné podunajské múzeum v Komárne, 1986.Pavol Tišliar is professor of Slovak history.He works at the Department of Archeology and Museology at the Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University in Brno and at the Department of Historical Sciences and Central European Studies at the Faculty of Arts, University of Ss.Cyril and Methodius in Trnava.He publishes the history of museums (museology) and monumentology, theoretical problems of cultural heritage and as a historian also in the field of socio--cultural history of Slovakia.Pavol Tišliar je profesorom slovenských dejín.Pôsobí na Ústave archeologie a muzeologie Filozofickej fakulty Masarykovej univerzity v Brne a na Katedre historických vied a stredoeurópskych štúdií Filozofickej fakulty Univerzity sv.Cyrila a Metoda v Trnave.Publikuje z oblasti dejín múzejníctva a monumentológie, teoretických problémov kultúrneho dedičstva a ako historik aj v oblasti socialno-kultúrnych dejín Slovenska.