Tell a Story of the Nation: Image of Religion and Non-religion in the Czech National Museum

Tomáš Bubík

doi:10.14712/23363525.2019.14

Abstract

The study of religion and non-religion in a museum has become a phenomenon recently gaining attention from scholars, especially those focusing on the study of religiousness in public spaces. This paper examines the topic using the example of the Czech National Museum, particularly of its long-term exhibitions because these have a broader social impact. As a state institution, the National Museum not only collects, exhibits and studies items and artifacts but at the same time creates a story, a narrative contributing to the formation of national identity and to a sense of community. This story tries to represent Czechness in modern times, its national character, its past and present, and how it has been self-defined as well as created in relation to others. The main objective of the paper is to characterize the role of religion and non-religion in the national narrative from a Religious Studies perspective. It aims not at comparing the findings with the real importance of religion in Czech society but at uncovering how the National Museum wants its visitors to perceive the role of religion in the story of Czechness, and which events, people and values have gained a purely non-religious character in it.

Highlights

The study of religion and non-religion in a museum has become a phenomenon recently gaining attention from scholars, especially those focusing on the study of religiousness in public spaces
It is not about the penetration of the influence of religious organizations into state institutions such as the National Museum, but about the ways a public and secular institution presents religious and world-view issues, or, in other words, what is the place of religion within the narrative of the Czech National Museum
Part of the collections are accessible to TOMÁŠBUBÍK Tell a Story of the Nation: Image of Religion and Non-religion in the Czech National Museum visitors

Summary

Religion as a Relic of the Past

The Modern era, the nineteenth century during which the National Museum was established as an institution, was a period enchanted by history and by seeing reality through a historical perspective. Apart from the values described as traditional (most likely meaning Christian), so-called elementary values are stressed such as those directly connected with the relationship between humans and nature These elementary values are explained as results of the geographical situation of the Czech Lands as the “crossroad of cultural paths” and as a result of the “mountainous and sub-mountainous regions” which, due to concerns over survival, gave rise to pre-Christian religious concepts.. Together with the personification of natural forces and mountain peaks, supposedly resulted in the formation of certain religious ideas, the most remarkable of these being the male figure of Krakonoš, the guardian of mountain treasures, helper of good people, and the patron of justice and morals, often portrayed as a wooden effigy In this context, woodcraft is mentioned as one of the typical skills of Czech folk, central to many crafts (carpenter, cartwright, cooper, shingle maker, mangle maker, wood-carver). The visit of Pope John Paul II in 1990 is noted as a milestone for future cooperation

National Heroes as Role Models for the Formation of National Identity

Music as a New Manifestations of Czechness

Czechness and Its Relationship to Otherness

Conclusion