Ján Kollár ( hu, Kollár János; 29 July 1793 – 24 January 1852) was a Slovak writer (mainly poet), archaeologist, scientist, priest, politician, and main ideologist of

Pan-Slavism Pan-Slavism, a movement which crystallized in the mid-19th century, is the political ideology concerned with the advancement of integrity and unity for the Slavic people. Its main impact occurred in the Balkans, where non-Slavic empires had rule ...

Life

He studied at the Lutheran Lyceum in

Pressburg Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approximately 140% of ...

(Pozsony,

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coronation of the Hungarian monarch, c ...

, now

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approximately 140% of ...

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...

). In 1817 he enrolled in the

University of Jena The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (german: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany. The ...

. His attendance at the Wartburgfest (18 October 1817) has since been credited as being a formative experience with regards to his views on

He spent most of his adult life as a chaplain to the populous but poor Slovak

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

community in Pest (

, today part of

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

). From 1849, he was a professor of Slavic

archeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts ...

at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich hi ...

, and several times he also acted as a counselor to the Austrian government for issues around the

Slovaks The Slovaks ( sk, Slováci, singular: ''Slovák'', feminine: ''Slovenka'', plural: ''Slovenky'') are a West Slavic ethnic group and nation native to Slovakia who share a common ancestry, culture, history and speak Slovak. In Slovakia, 4.4 mi ...

. He entered the Slovak national movement in its first phase. His

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make th ...

(since 1974) in Mošovce was installed in the former

granary A granary is a storehouse or room in a barn for threshed grain or animal feed. Ancient or primitive granaries are most often made of pottery. Granaries are often built above the ground to keep the stored food away from mice and other animals ...

, which was the only masoned part of Kollár's otherwise wooden birth-house. The rest of the house burned down in a fire on 16 August 1863. In 2009 a replica was rebuilt of the original Kollár's birth-house, which is now a museum.

Views

He worked out a conception of Slav reciprocity. He admitted 4 standard languages: Russian, Polish, Czechoslovak and

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia an ...

Works

Besides writing poetry he also wrote technical literature. * Slávy Dcera (1824; The daughter of Sláva), collection of two (37 and 39

sonnet A sonnet is a poetic form that originated in the poetry composed at the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the Sicilian city of Palermo. The 13th-century poet and notary Giacomo da Lentini is credited with the sonnet's inventio ...

s) cycles In this work he worked out the conception of Slavic reciprocity. He expressed his feelings to a woman but this love had transformed to a love to his homeland. The main thematics of this work are: •love •patriotism It is divided into 5 chapters and it has a foreword. Předzpěv (Prelude)
The author expressed his fears that the Slovaks will disappear from the face of Europe like other Slavic tribes before. He asked the Slovaks to ask for help from the Russian nation. 1. Sála
This part contains love sonnets. Kollár glorifies his love Mína, depicting her as an ideal of a Slavic maid, the daughter of goddess Sláva. 2. Labe, Rén, Vltava
In these parts, the author takes us to places where Slavic tribes lived before. He is disappointed because these areas belong to foreign countries now. 3. Dunaj
The author arrives to Slovakia, disillusioned by the poverty of this area. He is highly disappointed and longs for death. 4. Léthé 5. Acheron
Mína becomes a fairy and takes the author to Slavic heaven and hell. * ''O literární vzájemnosti mezi kmeny a nářečími slavskĭmi'' (Reciprocity Between the Various Tribes and Dialects of the Slavic Nation, edited and translated into English by Alexander Maxwell)

Legacy

* Guta (Gúta) is a town in southern

with a Hungarian majority. It was renamed "Kolárovo" in 1948. * Streets in

Stara Pazova Stara Pazova (, ; hu, Ópazova) is a town and municipality located in the Srem District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The town has a population of 64792, while Stara Pazova municipality has 65,792 inhabitants. The entrance into ...

, Kisač, Padina and

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; names in other languages) is the capital and largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. Nearly 1,166,763 mi ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hu ...

are named in his honor. * The gymnasium in Bački Petrovac (

) bears his name.

Gallery

Image:Mošovce, Ján Kollár.jpg, Statue of Ján Kollár in Mošovce Image:Kollárov_dom.jpg, Birth-house of Ján Kollár in Mošovce Image:Kollar.jpg, Motto Image:Izba_Kollar.jpg, Museum of Ján Kollár in Mošovce

References

External links

* AUTY, R
Ján Kollár, 1793–1852.
''The Slavonic and East European Review'', Vol. 31 (1952), No. 76: 74–91. * KARÁSEK, J
''Kollárova dobrozdání a nástin životopisný z roku 1849''
V Praze: Česká akademie císaře Františka Josefa pro vědy, slovesnost an umění, 1903. 113 p. - available at ULB's Digital Library * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kollar, Jan 1793 births 1852 deaths People from Turčianske Teplice District People from the Kingdom of Hungary Slovak Lutherans Slovak poets Czech poets Czech male poets Slovak scientists Slovak politicians Slovak philologists Linguists from Slovakia Slovak philosophers Mošovce 19th-century poets 19th-century male writers 19th-century Lutherans Burials at Olšany Cemetery