Renáta Tyršová

“ Instead of mountains,—deep forests and green meadows, a plain presents itself with its undulating fields of golden grain, and in contrast great fields showing the dark green leaf of the beetroot, everywhere there is evidence of the fertility of the soil and signs to cheer the heart of the farmers with the prospect of a bounteous harvest. ”

“ Even the men,—especially the youthful swains, indulge in many bright ornaments on their dress, the breast of the shirt, waist-coat and breeches, and even sometimes the mantle thrown in graceful folds round the shoulder are ornamented with a fine display of lacing and embroidery. ”

“ The loss of Bohemia’s independance and the determination of the government to germanize her people, were the causes that alienated the great mass of the population from the cultured class which was educated in the higher german schools so as to forget their nationality and sink their individuality, while the country people on the other hand, lived their own old national style of life. ”

“ But the peasants in Bohemia were even during those times of serfdom, the owners of the soil they tilled, and they possessed so much innate energy and creative power as to make for themselves sufficiently cultured and artistic surroundings, that they raised themselves above the dreary monotony of daily drudgery and preserved their national character. ”

“ In Bohemia and Moravia, earlier perhaps than in any other part of Central Europe, much attention has been bestowed on the apparently vanishing innate inventive powers of the country people. More than twenty five years ago, articles of dress, furniture, pottery etc., were collected into Museums, and a great number of Exhibitions brought to light quantities of interesting objects of textile and ceramic industry, along with various small house-hold untensils from all parts of Bohemia, Moravia and Slovenia inhabited by the Slavonic race. ”

“ The society does a great amount of good work in giving the people the necessary instruction how to make the articles suitable for the requirements of the inhabitants of the towns. [5] The society’s efforts have resulted in the largely increased patronage of the village workers. The thoughtful visitor will not fail to compare in the exhibition the new products with the old ones shown in the room of the city of Prague and he will readily recognise the points of resemblance between productions of the past and the present day. ”

“ It is not even possible to show kinds of costume,—different in each district as worn by the country people. The limited space does not permit of more than the display of a selection of interesting garments—sartorial pages of history linking the past with the present, bringing to our minds the time when a persons apparel was also the outward sign of his national character and evidence of his social position and surroundings. ”

“ Folk-lore, national art and culture is made object of intense study by a considerable number of literary men, who publish particular journals and beautifully illustrated works. To the foreigner, the art peculiar to the Bohemian people is of undoubted interest on account of its originality and great aesthetic worth. ”

“ Thanks to the favourable influence of the more educated classes who have succeeded in convincing the people that they would lose much of their individuality by discarding their national costumes, they have been prevailed upon to continue to wear their national attire on holiday occasions, to sing old songs of the country, and to the music of the bagpipe perform the ancient dances as their ancestors did. ”

“ Here, only a few traces of the original dress of the country survive, but in former times the rich garments of the portly women from the extensive farms, harmonised well with the signs of the land’s fertility and the prosperity of the country generally which made life easy. They are not so tall as their neighbours from Domažlice, but rather stout and not so sunburnt.The peasant women near Plzeň used to wear a dress made under the influence of the town’s fashion of the eighteenth century. ”

“ The nearer we approach to Prague and to the north and north west frontier, the signs of the present day increase, busy factories meet the eye, and just as the evidence of modern commercial life grows stronger, so traces of old customs and fashion become few and faint until in the busy towns it is to the Museums we must go to learn the lessons of the past. ”

“ More than fifty years ago the peasants of Bohemia began to discard their pretty showy costumes, and only in the southern parts, far from the industrial centres and the high roads of commerce, have the forms of the ancient life been preserved. ”

“ The white caps of the peasants women excel in fine open work and in ornaments of knots very elaborately arranged into nice patterns, and the bordering of fine lace is also the work of Bohemian peasant women.
The head kerchiefs differ in the style of ornamentation and colour in each district, some showing embroidered corners of many coloured silks, others snow-white with open-work embroidery contrasting with those worked with tinsel and glass beads, other specimens are almost covered with close embroidery in black, exhibiting an endless va-riety of patterns ”

“ In some industrial schools, great pains are taken to revive the old characteristic needle-work and to profit from the study of national originals and to show good effects in the modern work due to conscientious study of the national designs. ”

“ The state of civilization here described belongs to the past, the upper classes of the nation are once more now in sympathy with the people and powerfully aid in raising the intellectual standard of the country, and recruiting from the masses the best artists and men of letters. ”

“ We are convinced of their worth and all who are interested ought to study their technical peculiarities, the designs and style of ornamentation, and endeavour to extract from the consideration of ancient art an inspiration for new artistic creations. ”