Masarykovy návštěvy Pompejí

This article focusing on the journeys of the first Czechoslovak president Tomas Garrigue Masaryk to Capri, the archaeological site of Pompeii, and to the Naples Museum represents a marginal but interesting addendum to the author's previously published monograph on Czech journeys to Pompeii, and their subsequent descriptions in the published as well as archive accounts written by the travellers themselves ('Cesi v Pompejich 1748-1948 (The Czechs in Pompeii 1748-1948), Praha 2007). Even though no records of the journeys describing his impressions written by Masaryk himself are extant, some interesting comments of Dr. Kucera, Masaryk's secretary, regarding the visits of 1921 and 1922 have been preserved. In addition, the author puts Masaryk's visits into the context of the overall political atmosphere after World War I and of the state of Pompeian archaeology at that time.