Die Slowakische Musealgesellschaft (100 Jahre seit ihrer Gründung)

Abstract

History of Slavic Ethnology.

In 1993, we commemorated the centenary of the founding of the Slovak Museum Society. During the first quarter of a century of its existence, this society was the only scientific and cultural institution in Slovakia that was dedicated to developing its activities in accordance with the needs of Slovak national life.

The original intention of the founder of the MSS, A. Kmeť, was to build the Slovak Academy of Sciences or the Slovak Scientific Society, following the example of similar scientific institutions in other European countries. For Kmeť, the founding of only a “museum” society meant a concession to figures who were skeptical about the possibilities of developing science in Slovakia. The MSS fulfilled the mission of a scientific, research and cultural institution, thus replacing the activities of both the abolished Matica Slovenská and the non-existent Academy of Sciences.

A nationwide fundraising campaign made it possible to build the Museum building in Martin. The Proceedings of the Museum Slovak Society (1896) and the Journal of the Museum Slovak Society (1898) were founded.

After the creation of the common state of Czechs and Slovaks in 1918, the book fund and manuscript archive were transferred to the administration of Matica Slovenská. The focus of scientific research was gradually transferred to Comenius University (founded in 1919) and to the Šafárik Learned Society in Bratislava. In the thirties, part of the research activity was transferred from the MSS to the scientific departments of Matica Slovenská. The activity of the MSS was gradually limited. In the interwar years, the main result of the MSS activity was the construction of the Slovak National Museum in Martin.

The “period of building socialism” with the new state system of institutional management led to the gradual loss of justification for the activities of the MSS until its abolition in 1960.