Ján Tibenský a výskum cestopisnej literatúry na Slovensku. Príspevok k problematike

(Ján Tibenský and the Research of Travel Literature in Slovakia. A Contribution to the Topic)

Miroslav Kamenický

Ján Tibenský and the Research of Travel Literature in Slovakia. A Contribution to the Topic Download PDF

KAMENICKÝ, Miroslav. Ján Tibenský and the Research of Travel Literature in Slovakia. A Contribution to the Topic. In Historický zborník, Vol. 35, 2025, No. 1, pp. 87 – 95.

Abstract: Ján Tibenský started working on the topic Feudal Slovakia through the eyes of foreigners in 1958. Gradually, he prepared an extensive bibliographic inventory of travelogues in relation to Slovakia, which is in his estate in the Central Archive of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. In the 1960 s he published several studies on the subject, both at home and abroad. In the 1970 s, however, he was so busy working on the Pioneers of Science and Technology in Slovakia that he had no time for travelogues. It was not until the 1990 s that he returned to travel writing. The result of his work was the monograph Slovakia through the Eyes of Europe 900 - 1850 (Bratislava, Academic Electronic Press, 2003), which he co‑authored with his wife, the eminent ethnologist Viera Urbancová. Miroslav Kamenický, in his evaluation study, deals in detail with the unsolved question of the authorship of the travelogue A Journay of John Baptist Merin, Phil. et Med. Doct. to the Mines of Hungary; with an account of his Observations made there, in relation to them, and subterraneous passages in general. Another question left unresolved by Tibensky was the authorship of Gottfried Rotenstein’s travelogues from the second half of the 18th century. The study reveals the real name of this travel writer which was Gottfried Stegmüller. Overall, it can be stated that the publication Slovakia through the Eyes of Europe contains, in addition to travel and geographic information, a lot of data on roads, means of transport, post offices, inns, etc. It is an excellent stepping stone to a more detailed treatment of individual travelogues as well as the history of tourism in Slovakia.

Keywords: Ján Tibenský, travelogues, Slovakia, Jean Baptiste Morin, Gottfried Stegmüller