On February 6, 2024, the Hybernská Campus in Prague hosted the opening of the traveling exhibition titled “Karel Klostermann a zrod Šumavy” [Karel Klostermann and the Birth of the Šumava Mountains]. The exhibition focuses on the writer who is closely associated with this frontier mountain range. It is based on the publication of the same name by linguists Michal Hořejší and Veronika Faktorová.
The exhibition’s opening included a panel discussion with the authors and three other experts – aesthetician Karel Stibral, historian Anna Kolářová, and historian and commentator Matěj Moravanský. The composition of the panelists covered an interdisciplinary approach to environmental humanistic topics and linked the Šumava region’s genius loci with the culture of other mountain ranges in the Czech territory.
The discussion focused on Klostermann’s legacy, his influence on the development of tourism, the displacement of the German population, the historical experience of the 19th-century bark beetle calamity, and ideas about nature conservation that shape the relationship of the Czech society to the Šumava Mountains to this day.
The event was held under the auspices of historian Jan Randák, who introduced the Environmental Humanities and History of Present Research Group, which is being established at the Institute of Czech History, Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague.
You can see the exhibition for free at Hyb4City (3rd floor) from February 5 to March 4, 2024. A recording of the panel discussion is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRTmUXfaJBw.
