ČESI A ICH POČIATOK PUBLICISTICKÉHO, VÝTVARNÉHO A VEDECKÉHO ZÁUJMU O TATRY DO ŠESŤDESIATYCH ROKOV 19. STOROČIA

The beginning of Czech interest in the Tatras can be placed between the 1820s and 1860s, when the topic of the Tatras started appearing in Czech periodicals. However, as early as the 1820s, it was also featured in a German (and simultaneously French) publication by Emanuel Kratochvíle von Kronbach, which includes thirty color lithographs. For Czech travelers, the Tatras were something that did not directly relate to their historical territory, but they perceived them as a Slavic mountain range they wanted to explore more thoroughly and popularize back home in Bohemia. During this period, Czechs primarily explored the Tatras from the northern side, making the village of Zakopane and the nearby natural beauties of the Tatras, such as Morskie Oko, the Kościeliska Valley, or the Three Spiš Lakes, their main destinations. The first, and quite extensive, contribution dedicated to the southern (Hungarian) Tatras dates back to 1847 and comes from the pen of the physician Vilém Lambl. From the 1860s onwards, there was a clear interest in the Tatras among Czech painters, which was particularly evident in the works of František B. Zvěřina. In Bohemia, the Tatras were reported on by representatives of the Czech intelligentsia after their travels, including the poet Vítězslav Hálek, whose work was influenced by his experiences from his journey to the Tatras.