Alois Musil (30 June 1868 – 12 April 1944) was a Czech

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

, orientalist,

explorer Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...

and bilingual Czech and German writer.

Biography

Musil was the oldest son born in 1868 into an poor farming family in

Moravia Moravia ( ; ) is a historical region in the eastern Czech Republic, roughly encompassing its territory within the Danube River's drainage basin. It is one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The medieval and early ...

(then

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n part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, today

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

). His birthplace of Rychtářov was in an area surrounded by German-speakers, allowing him and his brothers to learn to read and write both German and Czech. He was a second cousin of Robert Musil, an Austrian writer. In the years 1887–1891 he studied

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

theology at the University of Olomouc, was consecrated as a priest in 1891 and received a doctorate in theology in 1895. In the years 1895–1898 he studied at the Dominican Biblical School in

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, in 1897-1898 at the Jesuit University of St. Joseph in

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, 1899 in

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and

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He travelled extensively throughout the Arab world and kept coming back to it until 1917, collecting a huge body of scientific material. Among his discoveries was the 8th-century desert castle of Qusayr 'Amra, now famous for its figurative Islamic paintings. In the process of trying to steal the now-famed Umayyad fresco '' Painting of the Six Kings'' from Qusayr 'Amra, he permanently damaged the painting. He later developed a serious lung disease. Between his trips Musil continued working on his publications and lecturing. In 1902 he became professor of theology at the University of Olomouc, and in 1909, professor of Biblical studies and

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

at Vienna University. In addition to modern and classical languages, he mastered 35 dialects of Arabic. He was so well acquainted with the Rwala Bedouins, that he was accepted into the tribe as "Sheikh Musa". During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

he was sent to the

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to eliminate British attempts to instigate a revolution against the Ottoman Empire, thus being an opponent of T. E. Lawrence. In 1917 he journeyed through the Middle East with Archduke Hubert Salvator of Austria; there are suggestions that the mission had a political motive involving Arab Revolt against the Ottoman government. After the war he became a professor at

Charles University in Prague Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the oldest universities in the world in continuous operation, the oldest university north of the ...

(1920), despite opposing voices resenting his close ties with the

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. He helped to establish the Oriental Institute of the Academy of Sciences in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

. In cooperation with the American industrialist Charles Richard Crane he published his works in English (1922–23). In addition to scientific work and popular travel books he published 21 novels for young readers. Musil worked for Charles University until 1938, but was active until the very end of his life. He died in Otryby due to kidney dysfunction complicated by lung disease.

Works

Although Musil is best known for his discovery of Qusayr 'Amra, his output was prolific. He wrote more than 50 books (including six illustrated works published by the

American Geographical Society The American Geographical Society (AGS) is an organization of professional geographers, founded in 1851 in New York City. Most fellows of the society are United States, Americans, but among them have always been a significant number of fellows f ...

and 20 children's books); some 1200 scholarly articles; transcriptions and translations of Bedouin tribal poems and songs; produced thousands of photographs of archaeological sites and Bedouin people and prepared topographic maps and surveys of territories. * * ''Ḳuṣejr ʻamra und andere Schlösser östlich von Moab: Topographischer Reisebericht'', Wien 1902 * ''Sieben samaritanische Inschriften aus Damaskus'', Wien 1903 * ''Od stvoření do potopy'' (From Creation to the Flood), Prag 1905 * ''Auf den Spuren der Geschichte des Alten Testaments'', 2 Bde., Olmütz 1906/07 * ''Kuseir 'Amra'', 2 Bde., Wien 1907 * (with excerpts on Jerusalem and other places in

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

) * ''Ethnologischer Reisebericht'', Wien 1908 * ''Im nördlichen Hegaz'', Wien 1911 * ''Zur Zeitgeschichte von Arabien'', Leipzig 1918Original publication of 1918 * ''The Northern Hegaz, a Topographical Itinerary'', American Geographical Society, Oriental Studies and Explorations No: 1, 1926 * ''Northern Negd'', New York 1928 * ''The Manners and Customs of the Rwala Bedouins'', New York 1928 * ''In the Arabian Desert'', arranged for publication by Katherine McGiffort, New York 1930 * ''Krest'anské Církve dnešního orienta'' (The Christian Churches in the present day Orient), Olmütz 1939 * 1910 until 1933 over 1.500 articles, contributions to collected essays, and new paper articles, the most important ones are collected in: Dnešní Orient, 11 Bde., Prag 1934–1941.

Note

* His image appears on a 21Kc Czech Republic postage stamp

References

External links

Detailed biography of Musil

English article on Radio Prague

Biography, bibliography (in Czech)

Academic Society of Alois Musil (in Czech)

Details of Musil's discoveries (in Czech)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Musil, Alois 1868 births 1944 deaths 19th-century Czech Roman Catholic priests 20th-century Czech Roman Catholic priests People from Austria-Hungary Writers from Austria-Hungary Czechoslovak Roman Catholic priests Czech theologians Czech male writers Czech explorers Czech Arabists Czech orientalists Holy Land travellers Explorers of Asia Academic staff of the University of Vienna Czech expatriates in Austria Czech Roman Catholic writers Academic staff of Charles University Palacký University Olomouc alumni People from the Margraviate of Moravia People from Vyškov

Biography

Works

Note

See also

References

External links