250 let bohemistiky na Vídeňské univerzitě: její počátky, vývoj a význam pro hungaristiku

This autumn marks the 250th anniversary of Josef Valentin Zlobický’s appointment as the world’s first university professor of Czech language and literature. This appointment also marked the beginning of Czech Studies at the University of Vienna. At that time, however, Czech language teaching had already been introduced at three other significant educational institutions of the Habsburg Monarchy in Vienna and Wiener Neustadt. Czech was considered the most developed Slavic language of the monarchy and served as a lingua franca for communication among Slavic nations within the Habsburg Empire.
In this paper, we focus on the origins of Czech Studies in Vienna and Wiener Neustadt and their connection with the introduction of Hungarian and Polish language teaching. Hungarian language instruction began as early as 1746 at the Vienna Theresianum and from 1755 at the Noble Military Academy in Vienna. The first Hungarian language teacher, János Farkas, was a prominent grammarian whose work influenced the language didactics of the time. In contrast, Polish language teaching emerged later, driven by efforts to strengthen the cultural identity of the Polish population within the monarchy.
This symbiosis of Czech, Hungarian, and Polish studies reflects not only the multicultural nature of the Habsburg Monarchy but also a significant contribution to the formation and consolidation of national identities. Special attention is given to Josef Valentin Zlobický, whose proposal to establish a Slavic institute at the University of Vienna laid the foundation for future Slavic studies. While Czech language instruction maintained its privileged position at the University of Vienna until the fall of the Habsburg Monarchy, Hungarian and Polish studies developed more sporadically. This historical development illustrates how language teaching contributed to the cultural discourse and intellectual advancement of the Habsburg state.