VEĽKOMORAVSKÁ A CYRILO-METODSKÁ TRADÍCIA V TVORBE „ŠTÚROVCOV“

The article reflects the relationship of the Štúr generation to Great Moravia, as the “constructing the past” seemed to be an effective tool in awakening national consciousness. As a result of the necessary narrowing of the research framework, we decided to present the issue of the application of Great Moravian realities through literary or journalistic works published in the appendix of the first Slovak political newspapers – in Orol tatranský [the Tatra Eagle]. Although interpretive penetrations into the works of Ľ. Štúr, A. Sládkovič, J. K. Viktorin and Š. Ferienčík do not exhaust the full breadth of historical reminiscences of the mentioned personalities to the introduced period, nevertheless, they document the way of reviving both traditions in accordance with the symbolism of the time. Štúr’s return to the historical roots of national life, Sládkovič’s abstraction of the fate of Great Moravia, J. K. Viktorin’s reflection on the benefits of the activities of Thessalonian brothers or the image of Nitra in Š. Ferienčík’s work are not only proof that the content focus of the contributions corresponded to the thematic targeting of the Tatra Eagle (resp. that the Great Moravian realities remained in the living memory of the Štúr generation, but that the tragic fate of Great Moravia and the subsequent history should also serve as a memento and construction of the future based on the values of Christianization activity. Despite the genre diversity of the analysed texts, the article provides a picture of the specificity of the attitude and ways of artistic representation of the same historical reality.