learn about jan amos comenius - · pdf filejan amos comenius (1592–1670 ... in sweden...

Learn about...

What is the meaning of the name Amos?

Jan Amos Comenius (1592–1670)

Pomlčková válka

In the Brethren School

The Map of Moravia

The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise

of the Heart

The Teacher of Nations

The Improvement of Human Affairs

Naarden

In the years 2012 and 2013 interesting evidence about Comenius’ whereabouts in the Brethren school was unearthed during a rescue archaeological survey that had been initiated because of the construction of a new bridge in Přerov, over the Bečva River. Archaeologists discovered there the well-preserved foundations of St. Mark’s Church, of the Brethren congregation together with adjacent buildings comprising a Brethren house and a school that had been built during the second half of the 16th Century. Additionally uncovered between the two buildings was a completely intact original paved lane, a unique example of the craftsmanship of the period. Jan Amos Comenius came to Přerov in 1608, as a sixteen-year old, to study Latin at the Brethren school. He also returned to the city six years later, after completing his studies in Germany, already as a teacher and a preacher. He also got married in Přerov and adopted his second name, Amos. These findings have been ranked amongst the top three archaeological discoveries that were made in the Czech Republic during 2013.

Findings of the Unity of the Brethren School in Přerov, 2012. Photograph: CTK / Vladislav Galgonek

In exile

The Last Bishop of the Unity of the

Brethren

Learn about...

Where was Jan Amos Comenius

born?



Vznik České republiky

The Map of Moravia


of the Heart

Naarden

In addition to teaching and writing philosophical and religious tracts Jan Amos Comenius also excelled as a cartographer, particularly of his native Moravia. The documentation for the map, originally constituting part of a work about Moravian history, was gathered together over a period of many years. The original drawing has not been preserved, and the work is therefore known from the first printing that was published in Amsterdam in cca. 1624. During the Thirty Years War this map had considerable military and political significance because, for example, it depicted important fording points across rivers. Because of its accuracy and its wealth of detail it continued to be published, in various forms, for over a century. The map was not published in the Czech lands, however, until 1677, i.e. already after the death of Comenius (1670). As a result of the policies of the counter-Reformation his name was not attached to it.

In exile



Brethren


Comenius’ map of Moravia from 1680, based on an earlier engraving from 1627

One of the more than fifty modern editions of the book, from 1985

Learn about...

Who accompanies the Pilgrim through the Labyrinth of the

World?



The Map of Moravia

Čechy nebo Česko?

The Labyrinth of the World and the

Paradise of the Heart

In exile

Naarden

Comenius wrote The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of the Heart during the period of a difficult life situation following the defeat of the Protestant side in the Battle of the White Mountain in 1620. At that time he was in hiding and he lost his entire family who died of the plague. The first version of his manuscript was completed in 1623, but he repeatedly returned to the book and added to it. The primary theme of his manuscript is the meaning of human life. In the first part of the book the Pilgrim (as the narrator) walks around the world accompanied by his two guides, and he is searching for his place in it, but ultimately he comes to the conclusion that this amounts only to vanity and delusion. In the second part he does find the answer through the conversion in his own heart whereby he finds God. The world is portrayed allegorically as a city that resembles a labyrinth. It has a Common Square and six streets, in accordance with the six classes: i.e. the household class (families), artisans, scholars, clergy, rulers and soldiers. Watching over the city is the almost inaccessible Castle of Fortune. In 1957 a copy of Labyrinth that had been revised by Comenius was exchanged with the Polish side for a famous manuscript by Nicolaus Copernicus On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, which Comenius had purchased during the period of his studies in Germany.



Brethren


Jan Amos Comenius on the engraving from 1642 by George Glover (who was active between 1625 and 1650)

Learn about...

Which Czech song paraphrased

Comenius’ statement?



The Map of Moravia

PrezidentIn exile

Naarden

Jan Amos Comenius symbolises Czech political exile. As a priest of the Unity of the Brethren, together with his other co-religionists, he was forced to leave the country in the early part of 1628. He was moving about in many countries in Europe - e.g. in Poland, in England, in Hungary, in Sweden and in the Netherlands. The Peace of Westphalia, which, in 1648, brought the long and bloody Thirty Years War to an end, also brought an end to his hopes of returning to his beloved homeland. His reaction to this situation was to become Comenius’ Testament of the Dying Mother, the Unity of Brethren, with its unforgettable timeless statement: “…and I trust in God that when this storm of anger, brought down on our heads for our own sins, has passed, the government of your affairs will return to thee once again, oh Czech people.” The last place in which the Teacher of Nations stood on the soil of his homeland was in Růžový palouček (Rose Meadow), near Žacléř and close to the village of Černá Voda at the eastern edge of the Giant Mountains.



of the Heart


Brethren


The Title Page of the Bible of Kralice

Learn about...

When was the first volume of the Bible of Kralice printed?



The Map of Moravia

Vláda

Comenius’ entire life was connected with the Unity of the Brethren, which had been founded by the Protestant Church after the Hussite wars. The church was rejected and banned and was persecuted, both by the Catholics and the Calixtins. The Unity of the Brethren continued to expand gradually and it gained an influential position. The Czech Bible of Kralice, which had been translated from the original biblical languages (Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek) by translators and theologians belonging to the Unity of Brethren, was produced in its printing workshop in Kralice in South Moravia. This represented the first direct Czech translation of the Bible from its original languages. Comenius had studied and taught at Brethren schools; he then became a Priest and, in 1632, a Bishop and the secretary of the Church. As the last Bishop of the Unity of Brethren he took care of his church up to his last breath. He himself was a deeply religious man, but at the same time he was also tolerant and he sought to reconcile the churches and to help them to reach understanding between each other.

In exile

Naarden



Brethren


of the Heart


Half of Comenius’ entire works were published in Amsterdam; for example a set of 43 tracts that were published under the title Opera didactica omnia.

Learn about...

What does the expression Opera didactica omnia

mean translated into English?



The Map of Moravia

Parlament

Today Jan Amos Comenius’ most revolutionary ideas concerning education seem natural to us. In his time, however, they aroused great interest among the influential individuals and the governments that were promoting Comenius and inviting him to implement his ideas in their own countries. For these reasons Comenius lived in England, the Netherlands, Sweden and Hungary. Comenius’ main didactic requirement was naturalness and the utmost respect for children’s development, based on the principle that “even the least gifted child can be educated a little”. Thereby he created a typology defining the natural mental and character differences that exist between children. His emphasis was on the independent work of the pupils and on utilising illustrative methods both for teaching and for learning. He was also proposing revolutionary changes in regard to the actual organisation of schooling. First he defined the concepts of the school year, school holidays and the school week and then, in addition, of the entire educational system - from preschool through elementary and secondary school and then at university.


Naarden

In exile


Brethren


of the Heart


Jürgen Ovens (1650–1670): Jan Amos Comenius

Learn about...

How many volumes does A General

Consultation Concerning the

Improvement of Human Affairs comprise?



The Map of Moravia

Jan Amos Comenius remains one of the most important figures of Czech education. He wrote about 250 works, both long and short. Considered as his most important work is A General Consultation Concerning the Improvement of Human Affairs. This text was implemented in the mid-17th Century and Comenius himself considered this work as representing a major breakthrough for the entire world. Comenius raises the relatively simple question “What are human affairs?”. And he responds that “human affairs are those because of which we differ from other creatures”. Improvement should therefore primarily be concerned with science (which helps to organise human consciousness) and with policy (implementing human volition) and with religion (supporting human hope). The first two volumes of A General Consultation were published in cca. 1657. They contained fundamental concepts regarding the harmonising of all knowledge into a single coherent system. After Comenius’ death the other volumes were lost and they were not rediscovered until the year 1934.

Naarden


In exile



of the Heart


Brethren

The Jan Amos Comenius Mausoleum and Museum located in Naarden. Photograph: CTK / Milan Syrůček

Learn about...

Which Czech Museum actually implemented

the Viva Comenius! Exhibition?


V Evropské unii


The Map of Moravia

Comenius spent the last fourteen years of his life in Amsterdam, where he was supported both by the City Council and by the Dutch merchant and industrialist De Geer. It was there that he also died on the 15th of November 1670. He was buried in the Walloon church located in nearby Naarden, however, until the nineteenth century the place of his final rest disappeared into oblivion. Comenius’ grave was rediscovered in 1871 by a Naarden Notary, J. Ph. De Roeper, but not until July 1929 was it was possible to carry out its surveying. In 1933 the Dutch government decided to rent the former chapel to Czechoslovakia for a symbolic annual rental of one gulden. During the years 1933-1937, the chapel was restored and was both refurbished as a mausoleum and decorated by prominent Czech artists under the supervision of Ladislav Machoň and Stanislav Sochor. The most intensive cooperation between the Czech Republic and the Netherlands took place after 1989. The Comenius Museum Naarden moved to the building adjacent to the monument and in 2006 the Viva Comenius! Exhibition was officially opened there.

Naarden


In exile


of the Heart


Brethren


learn about jan amos comenius - · pdf filejan amos comenius (1592–1670 ... in sweden...

Documents