Památkář ve Velké válce

Zprávy památkové péče 2014, 74(4):279-282

The conservator in the Great War

Jiří Křížek

There were some prominent Czech art historians and conservators who actively participated in the First World War as soldiers of the Austrian army. The surviving personal correspondence of Zdeněk Wirth, Antonín Matějček, and Vojtěch Birnbaum provides personal testimonies of how they had to deal with their dire life situations. For art-oriented intellectuals, the experience of war mostly meant isolation from their homes and families, career interruption, and a fundamental living uncertainty. Influential colleagues and friends who were not sent to the front for professional or medical reasons attempted to call these soldiers back home individually, but with only exceptional success. The richest archival source is the personal correspondence of Zdeněk Wirth, from which the author of the article drew, particularly from letters with Antonín Podlaha. During his military service, Zdeněk Wirth maintained intensive contact with dozens of people. Even without a working system, he still managed to continue writing and publishing scientific studies, working for example on literary research of inventories of artistic and historical items. After the establishment of Czechoslovakia at the end of the war, Zdeněk Wirth continued in his previous professional activities, including his collaboration with Antonín Podlaha.