A major reform in the reign of Joseph II was the establishment in 1786 of the provincial building directorates, through which the court aimed to regulate all public building works in the monarchy. Although the original aim of unifying building regulations throughout the realm was never achieved, the reform was a success and remained in force, with a few minor amendments, until the revolutionary year of 1848. One reason for its success was the elite corps of civil engineers who staffed these institutions. This study looks at advances in technical education, especially engineering, in the Habsburg monarchy from the beginning of the 18th century and the emergence of the Collegia Nobilia, or elite colleges, where graduates were prepared for a career in the Imperial Army. Besides military architecture, the colleges also taught the fundamentals of civil engineering, turning out some of the best‐trained creators of early modern architecture. The development and nature of this elite engineering training is examined with reference to the engineering academies of Prague, Vienna and Olomouc. In all three cases we stress the colleges’ status within the state framework, and their evolution in the light of changing official doctrine and methods of instruction. In all three cases it is clear that during the latter half of the 18th century the original ‘aristocratic’ colleges began to decline and were slowly replaced by similar state‐controlled establishments. As a first step, the court of Joseph II introduced a specialized course in practical architecture at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. From around 1800 this model was gradually superseded by the progressive French‐style polytechnic, a modified version of which remains the standard model for technical education to this day., Michal Konečný., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
The study focuses on the history of the regional, royal and dowry town of Hradec Králové in the latter years of the Enlightenment, at the end of the first stage of the formation of the modern Czech nation. Within the small territory of this fortress town, the seat of both regional authorities and a bishopric, there was a tertiary, secondary and primary school, a printing house and a theatre. At the episcopal seminary, grammar school (Gymnasium) and main school (Hauptschule), the teaching staff were connected with a petite bourgeoisie that had potential to participate in the future national movement. Graduates of the episcopal seminary and the Hradec Králové grammar school became an educated social elite who later used their cultural and social capital in various areas of religious and cultural life, in state or ecclesiastical administration. Although taught in Latin and German, and despite the growing importance of the German language as a means of communication among state and private employees, these men went on to play an active part in the formation of the modern Czech nation. At the same time, the Hauptschule provided essential skills in literacy and numeracy for multitudes of young people, teaching them the fundamentals of Czech and biblical history, natural science, and even the basics of Latin. The development of amateur theatre (the first documented amateur theatre performance in Hradec Králové, in which townspeople and officers participated, dates back to 1790; the theatre company acquired its own building six years later), and the establishment of a publishing house (formerly a printers), as well as the creation of a readers’ community, were important for the acceleration of social communication – a prerequisite for the formation of a civic society.