Professor Jan Luňák and Alma mater Aemonensis : the Czech founding father of the classics department in Ljubljana

David Movrin

doi:10.5817/GLB2026-1-5

Professor Jan Luňák and Alma mater Aemonensis : the Czech founding father of the classics department in Ljubljana

Roč.31,č.1(2026)

David Movrin

https://doi.org/10.5817/GLB2026-1-5

Trvalý odkaz (handle):
http://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/digilib.84136

PDF (angličtina)

Abstrakt

The paper analyzes the Slovenian legacy of Jan Luňák (1847–1935), a Czech classicist whose unusual career culminated in his becoming the founding figure of classical studies at the University of Ljubljana. He was trained in Prague, Leipzig, and Dorpat (nowadays Tartu), and active across the Russian Empire, from St Petersburg and Kazan to Moscow and Odessa. Luňák was part of the wider wave of Czech emigration to Russia in the second half of the nineteenth century. After retiring to Graz and losing his income due to the First World War and the Russian Revolution, he received an invitation in 1919 to the newly established University of Ljubljana, where he became its first professor of classical philology. The article shows how, despite advanced age, limited mastery of Slovenian, and a life marked by exile, Luňák worked hard for a full decade to build the classical seminary in Ljubljana. He taught a wide range of Greek and Latin courses, established a regular teaching structure, evaluated and supported key younger scholars, helped secure donations for the library, and ensured institutional continuity through successors such as Fran Bradač, Anton Sovre, and Milan Grošelj. His story bears witness to the ties between Czech and Slovenian intellectuals and the transnational networks that shaped Central European universities after 1918.

Klíčová slova:
history of classical scholarship; history of universities; Czech diaspora; University of Ljubljana; Central Europe

Stránky:
83–103

Reference

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