From Janko Kráľ to the father of the steam turbines
The brigand, poet and inventor meet… And do you know where? Obviously in the Janko Kráľ Museum in Liptovský Mikuláš! Today, we’ll have a look at the next part of our TripTip, which we already started in the previous article. Previously you could read about probably the best-known Slovak brigand. And now we’ll together learn something about not very simple history of our nation, which was accompanied by Janko Kráľ and his poems and represented in the world by inventor Aurel Stodola.
After we learned the fascinating but sad history of the Carpathian brigand Juraj Janosik and spent a moment in his torture chamber, we continued our tour. From the underground of an old burgher house, we walked up a massive staircase lined with a chronological map of important years connected with the life of Slovak, Aurel Stodola – the father of steam turbines. When we went upstairs, we found ourselves in a room where a human skull stared at us. The first room is dedicated to the oldest history of the city, which we discussed in the previous article. The next one represents the pride of Liptovs for their typical craftsmanship – tanning = processing leather and leather products.
This heart of Liptov has always been key to our national history, especially in the 19th century. Not only one of our most significant poets Janko Kráľ was born here, as well as the inventor, who stands behind the first flexible prosthesis of the human hand, Aurel Stodola, but also the Requests of the Slovak Nation were written here – document showing the opinion that perhaps a small but proud nation does not want to be just a nation of plebeians. But let’s take it from the beginning!
Life of young Kráľ (EN: King)
In the spring of April 24, 1822, Janko Kráľ was born in this town under the Tatras peaks. He spent his childhood in the town of his origin Liptovský Mikuláš and later applied for the lyceum in Levoča. And he changed several schools. After his studies in Levoča he studied at the Lyceum in Kežmarok, but finally he went to the Lutheran Lyceum in Bratislava, where coincidentially Ľudovít Štúr worked as Deputy Professor. And this is where his journey of Štúr’s poet began. He wrote here his first poems, first works, mainly on Slavic and national topics. Since this generation of poets represented pan-Slavic reciprocity, they were very dissatisfied with the hostility of the Russians and Poles. That is why Janko Kráľ attempted a symbolic reconciliation in his poem Zlomok (En: Fraction) about the Fight of the Russians with the Poles, which has a happy ending and the fighters from both sides will reconcile.
His studies in Bratislava ended soon, when him together with other 20 students ended his studies at the Lyceum in Bratislava as a protest against the dismissal of their teacher Ľudovít Štúr from his post of deputy professor. He returned to the lyceum in Levoča, but studied in the comfort of his home and probably even in his room, which is showed to the people in the exposition of Janko Kráľ Museum. We can find there common subjects from that perion, school supplies and among other things there is also a bust of this romantic poet.
At that time he was already well-known and recognized at home, and even actively participated in the establishment of the Tatrín association, which museum we also visited. It is possible that he wrote his most famous poem in a room similar to the one you can visit in the museum. The poem which every Slovak surely remembers from school desks. It is Duma Bratislavská. But soon a revolution broke out! People fought against Magyarization and even this romantic poet fought with both, the weapon and the poem in his hand. But soon he was captured and could only recite his most famous poem Duma Bratislavská in Hungarian captivity…
Ten prešporský zámok pekný murovaný —
čudujú sa z neho na Dunaj tí páni,
čuduje sa z neho aj záhorský šuhaj:
ako pekne tečie ten povestný Dunaj.(An excerpt from the poem Duma Bratislavská, not available in English)
How Slovaks didn’t want to be strangers in their own country anymore
A few years before the revolution, the Tatrín association we already mentioned was founded, with museum which belongs to the Janko Kráľ Museum in Liptovský Mikuláš. The poet Janko Kráľ himself took part in his establishment. The association was based in the evangelical vicarage of M. M. Hodža, right here in the heart of Liptov. After a tour (either a memorial house or Janosik’s torture chamber), or directly after purchasing a ticket, a lecturer will take you to the Tatrín museum building. Hodža’s vicarage is about three minutes walk from the box office, but it took us a little longer due to the icing and bad weather conditions that were currently in this region under the Tatra mountains.
After we arrived, our guide, who was even a graduate historian, showed us one of the most important pieces of our national history. The place where the institution that supported cultural life in Slovakia was located, was responsible for publishing and distribution of books in the Slovak language and it also contributed to improving the literacy of the local population. But the most important thing is that its members have written one of the most important documents of the Slovaks. This document is the Requests of the Slovak Nation.
The Requests of the Slovak Nation became a national program and with their 14 points accurately described the current requirements and needs of the Slovak nation. They also demanded the release of the poet Janko Kráľ. They were written on 10 May 1848 in Liptovský Mikuláš. You can also find these requests at the museum and your guide will tell you more about them. But in the meantime, to give you an idea of what an ordinary Slovak person in the mid-19th century was worried about, let’s briefly summarize each point:
Whoever feels like a Slovak, catch the sword and stand up with us
Unfortunately, they were not successful with the emperor or the Diet of Hungary. But after the revolution broke out, the Slovaks led by Ľudovít Štúr, Jozef Miloslav Hurban, and the army commander – Captain Ján Francisci, armed a Slovak army consisting of several thousand volunteers, founded the Slovak National Council, and in three expeditions they pushed Hungarian Guard out of Slovakia for more than a year, and they did everything they could to prevent Hungarians from ruling. However, after the dissolution of the army, the events returned to old ways and unfulfulled promises from the new emperor Franz Joseph I brought the Slovaks back to where they were before, for another decades.
Despite that Slovaks didn’t have their own countra, freedom and Magyarization, they managed to fight, became visible, and as written in the Declaration of the Slovak Nation (which we have already mentioned in our special TripTip), contribute to the general progress of humanity. And in the spirit of this idea, our nation was represented by the Slovak inventor, professor, engineer, constructor, writer, doctoral student, member of the French Academy of Sciences, holder of the highest honor of the German Gold Medal of the James Watt, which is the Nobel Prize of engineering. You would say that someone so important and studied came from England, France, or maybe the United States. Wrong! This undoubtedly intelligent and strong-minded inventor came from Liptovský Mikuláš. It was Aurel Stodola.
A Slovak who taught Einstein!
The exposition of the museum, which was once again guided by our willing guide, is dedicated to him. Or guide told us how Aurel Stodola was born into a respected tannery family on May 11, 1859. His father was even a local mayor. He graduated all of his studies with excellent results and his teachers described him as a gifted, contemplative and hard-working student. From his youth he had the predisposition to become a respected person. As a 17-year-old he studied at the Technical University of Budapest and after reaching adulthood he went to study in Zurich, Switzerland.
He was undoubtedly a polytechnic genius who made himself and Slovakia famous for the creation of the first movable artificial hand, for those who lost their own and needed a prosthesis. Except that, he created something even more significant. He became the father of steam turbines. In addition, he also invented a heat pump that currently heats the Geneva City Hall in Switzerland. And the last cherry on the cake is that Aurel Stodola taught one of the most important scientists in the world. His student was Albert Einstein himself! He lived until he reached a beautiful age of 83 and died in Switzerland in 1942.
Liptovský Mikuláš is surely a city that is, has always been and will always be closely linked with our nation and history. Such a small town was the scene of such important events and recognized so many important Slovaks that you probably had no idea about it until today. It is said that a nation which does not know or forgets its past has no future. We should not give up on our nation, our country, and we should be proud of our history. It hides more than we can imagine. Aurel Stodola, despite the tremendous success worldwide, as a world-renowned inventor who has achieved high prestige, did not forget where he came from. Always, until the end he claimed Slovak nationality. In 1939, when the Slovaks for the first time in history acquired their own state, unfortunately for a terrible price, he wrote as an 80-year-old in his letter:
“My feelings for my nation have not cooled. When I was invited to college in Zurich, I clearly highlighted my origins and I have been emphasizing it ever since. ”
Matej is a talktive person who comes from city which used to be known as “the pearl on the Váh river”. We are talking about the Žilina city! This beautiful agglomeration is surrounded by spectacular Slovak nature and plenty of old mediavel castles. Enviroment he grew up in became an object of his fascination and inspired him in interest of a local culture and history, as well as the history of his lovely Slovakia. These factors made Matej to becomes a guide at the nearby Budatín castle. Thanks to his passion you could be looking for the right amount of historical and interesting facts in articles written by him. He likes to stare at the country from the heighest floor of the 32 meters tall tower of Budatín castle, but much more he prefers literally sky views as he is a pilot. That’s why you would wait for some pictures of sights taken from the sky he writes about in his interesting reviews!