Slovenska matica
Encyclopedia
- This article is about the SloveneSloveniaSlovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
publishing house founded in 1864. Matica slovenskáMatica slovenskáThe Matica slovenská Mother) is Slovakia's public-law cultural and scientific institution focusing on topics around the Slovak nation. It is based in the city of Martin...
is a cultural and scientific institution in SlovakiaSlovakiaThe Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
, founded in 1863.
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
, founded in the 19th century as an institution for the scholarly and cultural progress of Slovenes. The name can be literally translated into English as the "Slovene Queen Bee," which is a metaphor meaning "the parent body of the Slovenes." It should not be confused with Matica slovenská
Matica slovenská
The Matica slovenská Mother) is Slovakia's public-law cultural and scientific institution focusing on topics around the Slovak nation. It is based in the city of Martin...
, an analogous institution in Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
.
History
The Slovenska matica was founded on the proposal of several Slovene patriotic associations and individuals from MariborMaribor
Maribor is the second largest city in Slovenia with 157,947 inhabitants . Maribor is also the largest and the capital city of Slovenian region Lower Styria and the seat of the Municipality of Maribor....
, who urged the establishment of an institution that would publish advanced scholarly literature in Slovene, foster the expansion of culture among Slovenes, and the development of scientific terminology in Slovene. In 1864, the consortium Slovenska matica was founded in Ljubljana
Ljubljana
Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...
. Its work was based on the examples of similar institutions in other Slavic
Slavic Europe
Slavic Europe is a region of Europe where Slavic languages are spoken. This area is situated in Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans, and includes the nations of Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, the Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Russia,...
countries, such as the Matica hrvatska
Matica hrvatska
Matica hrvatska is one of the oldest Croatian cultural institutions, dating back to 1842. The name is somewhat idiosyncratic, best translated as "The Croatian Centre" . It is the largest publisher of Croatian language books...
in Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
, Matica srpska
Matica srpska
The Matica srpska is the oldest cultural-scientific institution of Serbia. Matica srpska was founded in 1826 in Budapest and moved to Novi Sad in 1864....
in Vojvodina
Vojvodina
Vojvodina, officially called Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province of Serbia. Its capital and largest city is Novi Sad...
, Matice česká in the Czech Lands
Czech lands
Czech lands is an auxiliary term used mainly to describe the combination of Bohemia, Moravia and Czech Silesia. Today, those three historic provinces compose the Czech Republic. The Czech lands had been settled by the Celts , then later by various Germanic tribes until the beginning of 7th...
, and Matica slovenská
Matica slovenská
The Matica slovenská Mother) is Slovakia's public-law cultural and scientific institution focusing on topics around the Slovak nation. It is based in the city of Martin...
in Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
. The consortium was established with private capital, as well as with capital of the Duchy of Carniola
Duchy of Carniola
The Duchy of Carniola was an administrative unit of the Holy Roman Empire and the Habsburg Monarchy from 1364 to 1918. Its capital was Ljubljana...
and several cultural associations. The Austrian
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
Emperor Francis Joseph I also gave a substantial financial contribution for its founding.
The institution reached its peak at the beginning of the 20th century. At that time, it functioned as a regular publishing house on a free market
Free market
A free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts...
, publishing books for a general public, many of which became bestseller
Bestseller
A bestseller is a book that is identified as extremely popular by its inclusion on lists of currently top selling titles that are based on publishing industry and book trade figures and published by newspapers, magazines, or bookstore chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and...
s; at the same time, it also performed the role of an Academy of Sciences
Academy of Sciences
An Academy of Sciences is a national academy or another learned society dedicated to sciences.In non-English speaking countries, the range of academic fields of the members of a national Academy of Science often includes fields which would not normally be classed as "science" in English...
, fostering high culture
High culture
High culture is a term, now used in a number of different ways in academic discourse, whose most common meaning is the set of cultural products, mainly in the arts, held in the highest esteem by a culture...
and maintaining close contacts with the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts in Zagreb, the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts is the most prominent academic institution in Serbia today...
in Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
, as well as similar institutions in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, Krakow
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and Sankt Peterburg.
During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, the SM was closed and its properties confiscated by the Austro-Hungarian
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
authorities. The alleged cause was the publication of the book Gospodin Franjo ("Mister Franjo") by the Slovene author and officer of the Austro-Hungarian Army
Austro-Hungarian Army
The Austro-Hungarian Army was the ground force of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy from 1867 to 1918. It was composed of three parts: the joint army , the Austrian Landwehr , and the Hungarian Honvédség .In the wake of fighting between the...
Fran Maselj Podlimbarski, which was a strong satirical critique of the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
During the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...
, the Slovenska matica expanded its publishing work and in 1938 it was one of the co-founders of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts
The Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts is the national academy of Slovenia, which encompasses science and the arts and brings together the top Slovene researchers and artists as members of the academy....
. During the Italian occupation
Province of Ljubljana
The Province of Ljubljana was a province of the Kingdom of Italy and of the Nazi German Adriatic Littoral during World War II. It was created on May 3, 1941 from territory occupied and annexed to Italy after the Axis invasion and dissolution of Yugoslavia, and it was abolished on May 9, 1945, when...
in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the leadership of the Slovenska matica collaborated with the Liberation Front of the Slovenian People
Liberation Front of the Slovenian People
On 26 April 1941 in Ljubljana the Anti-Imperialist Front was established. It was to promote "an international massive movement" to "liberate the Slovenian nation" whose "hope and example was the Soviet Union"...
. In 1944, it was shut down by the Nazi German authorities. In late 1945, the communist authorities of the People's Republic of Slovenia allowed the Matica to be re-established, although its editorial policies were considered "too conservative" by the new regime. Most of its properties were nationalized by the state, but the institution was allowed to continue functioning and later received substantial subsidies.
The work of the institution was reinvigorated again in the 1980s, when it started systematically publishing translations of major Western philosophers and political theorists, including authors regarded as subversive of the official Socialist ideology, such as Heidegger, Machiavelli, Jan Patočka
Jan Patocka
Jan Patočka is considered one of the most important contributors to Czech philosophical phenomenology, as well as one of the most influential central European philosophers of the 20th century...
, Unamuno, José Ortega y Gasset
José Ortega y Gasset
José Ortega y Gasset was a Spanish liberal philosopher and essayist working during the first half of the 20th century while Spain oscillated between monarchy, republicanism and dictatorship. He was, along with Nietzsche, a proponent of the idea of perspectivism.-Biography:José Ortega y Gasset was...
, Aurelius Augustinus, and the complete works of Nietzsche.
Chairmen
Since its establishment, the Matica has been headed by important figures from Slovene cultural and public life.- 1865-1869: Lovro TomanLovro TomanLovro Toman was a Slovene politician and author. Together with Janez Bleiweis and Etbin Henrik Costa, he was part of the leadership of the national conservative Old Slovene party....
, lawyer, author and politician - 1869-1875: Etbin Henrik CostaEtbin Henrik CostaEtbin Henrik Costa was a Slovene national conservative politician and author. Together with Janez Bleiweis and Lovro Toman, he was one of the leaders of the Old Slovene political party....
, lawyer and politician - 1875-1881: Janez BleiweisJanez BleiweisJanez Bleiweis was a Slovene conservative politician, journalist and public figure. He was the leader of the so-called Old Slovene political movement. Already during his lifetime, he was called father of the nation....
, politician - 1881-1882: Josip Marn, literary historian
- 1882-1885: Peter Grasselli, politician, mayor of Ljubljana
- 1885-1886: Josip Poklukar, editor
- 1886-1893: Josip Marn
- 1893-1907: Fran Levec, literary historian
- 1907-1914: Fran Ilešič, literary historian
- 1917: Peter Grasselli
- 1918-1920: Ivan TavčarIvan TavcarIvan Tavčar was a Slovene and Yugoslav writer, lawyer, and politician.- Biography :Tavčar was born into a poor peasant family of Janez and Neža née Perko in the Carniolan village of Poljane near Škofja Loka in what was then the Austrian Empire and is now in Slovenia. It has never been entirely...
, author and politician, mayor of Ljubljana - 1920-1947: Dragotin LončarDragotin LončarDragotin Lončar was a Slovenian historian, editor and Social Democratic politician.He was born as Karel Lončar in Selo near Lukovica in Upper Carniola. After finishing the State Gymnasium in Ljubljana, he studied history at the Charles University in Prague, graduating in 1904...
, historian and political theorist - 1947-1949: Oton ŽupančičOton ŽupancicOton Župančič was a Slovene poet, translator and playwright.Župančič is regarded, alongside Ivan Cankar, Dragotin Kette and Josip Murn, as the beginner of modernism in Slovenian literature...
, poet - 1950-1966: Anton MelikAnton MelikAnton Melik was a Slovene geographer.- Biography :Melik was born in the village of Črna Vas, now part of Ljubljana, Slovenia, at that time part of Austria-Hungary. Before and during World War I, he studied at the University of Vienna, graduating in 1916 in history and geography. Later he was...
, geographer - 1966-1975: France KoblarFrance KoblarFrance Koblar was a Slovene literary historian, editor and translator.Koblar was born in Železniki in what was then Austria-Hungary and is now in Slovenia. He studied Slavic languages and Latin at Vienna...
, art historian - 1975-1978: Fran ZwitterFran ZwitterFran Zwitter was a Slovenian historian. He is considered, together with Milko Kos, Bogo Grafenauer and Vasilij Melik, the co-founder of the so-called Ljubljana school of historiography.- Life and work :...
, historian - 1978-1987: Bogo GrafenauerBogo GrafenauerBogo Grafenauer was a Slovenian historian, who mostly wrote about medieval history in the Slovene Lands. Together with Milko Kos, Fran Zwitter, and Vasilij Melik, he was one of the founders of the so-called Ljubljana school of historiography.- Early life :He was born in Ljubljana in a well...
, historian - 1987-1994: Primož Simoniti, classical philologist, historian and translator
- 1994- 2008: Joža Mahnič, literary historian
- since 2008: Milček Komelj, art historian and critic
Editors and chancellors
Many prominent individuals served as editors and chancellors (chief secretaries) of the institution. The most prominent of these were Fran LevstikFran Levstik
Fran Levstik was a Slovene writer, political activist, playwright and critic. he was one of the most prominent exponents of the Young Slovene political movement.-Life and work:...
, Josip Vidmar
Josip Vidmar
Josip Vidmar was a prominent Slovenian literary critic and essayist. Vidmar is remembered because of his role in the Slovenian resistance during World War II, and for his influence in the cultural policies of the Titoist regime in Slovenia from the mid 1950s to the mid 1970s.He was born in...
, Juš Kozak
Juš Kozak
Juš Kozak , also known under the pseudonym Jalanov, was a Slovenian writer, playwright and editor. He is most famous for his autobiographic novels, such as "The Cell" on his experience as political prisoner, and "Wooden Spoon" on life during World War II.He was born in a wealthy middle class...
, France Bernik, and Drago Jančar
Drago Jancar
Drago Jančar is a Slovenian writer, playwright and essayist. Jančar is one of the most known contemporary Slovene writers. In Slovenia, he is also famous for his political commentaries and civic engagement.-Life:...
. Several others have collaborated with the institution, including philosophers Ivo Urbančič
Ivo Urbancic
Ivo Urbančič is a Slovenian philosopher. He is considered to be one of the fathers of the phenomenological school in Slovenia...
and Tine Hribar
Tine Hribar
Tine Hribar is a Slovenian philosopher and public intellectual, notable for his interpretations of Heidegger and his role in the democratization of Slovenia between 1988 and 1990, known as the Slovenian Spring...
, historian Vasilij Melik
Vasilij Melik
Vasilij Melik was a Slovenian historian, who mostly worked on political history of the Slovene Lands in the 19th century.He was born in Ljubljana as the only son of the renowned geographer Anton Melik...
and political theorist Albin Prepeluh
Albin Prepeluh
Albin Prepeluh was a Slovenian left wing politician, journalist, editor, political theorist and translator. Before World War I, he was the foremost Slovene Marxist revisionist theoretician...
.