- Etat: unused FDC
- Année: 2017-06-21
a part of the building of the Moravian Museum in Brno; the background shows the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Brno
The idea of the establishment of a Moravian museum dates back to 1803. The founders of the museum were Christian Carl André (1763–1831), Moravian Enlightenment philosopher, economist, journalist, Chancellor of the Moravian-Silesian Society for the Improvement of Plowing, Natural Science and Geography; Count Joseph Auersperg (1767–1829), lawyer, graduate of Charles University in Prague, Enlightenment philosopher, member of a Masonic lodge, leading Moravian intellectual, supporter of the Economic Society; Governor Antonín Bedřich Mitrovský (1770–1842), lawyer, high government official who as provincial governor backed the efforts to establish a provincial museum - thanks to him, the museum acquired the Biskupský dvůr building in Brno as its first seat; and Count Hugo František Salm-Reifferscheidt (1776–1836), Enlightenment scholar and mining, metallurgy and farming entrepreneur, Director of the Moravian-Silesian Society for the Improvement of Plowing, Natural Science and Geography who donated natural and art collections to the museum. On 7 March 1816, Count Auersperg together with Count Salm presented the Provincial Governor Count Mitrovský with a memorandum, drawn up at their request by Josef Hormayer and pointing out the need to establish a museum. On 29 July 1817, the Emperor Franz I decided to set up a museum as part of the Economic Society. The decision to set up the museum, named Franz Museum as a tribute to the Emperor, was announced by the Moravian-Silesian Governor Count Antonín Bedřich Mitrovský in a decree published on 24 March 1818. In the late June 1899, the Moravian Committee and the Economic Society's liquidation committee signed an agreement to transfer the museum to the provincial government. The transferring ceremony was held on 11 January 1900. The Moravian Museum in Brno is the second largest and the second oldest museum in the Czech Republic. Its collections include over 6 million valuable natural and social science artefacts. The museum maintains its collections, carries out research, organises exhibitions, lectures, trips, educates young people and issues publications. On 13 July 1925, Karel Absolon's team made one of the greatest archeological discoveries in Moravia: a statuette of a nude female figure was found in a layer of ash at the palaeolithic settlement of Dolní Věstonice. The now world-famous Venus of Dolní Věstonice became one of the most precious exhibits at the Moravian Museum.
