The establishment, activities and closing of the first Hungarian department at the university of Prague
Abstrakt
This article aims to explore the history of the first Hungarian Department that functioned at the University of Prague between 1854 and 1860. This was the second department of this kind established outside Hungary, the first having been created at the University of Vienna.
The author investigates the circumstances of the foundation process, officially launched upon the initiative of the college of professors of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Prague in 1853, as well as the decision-making process of choosing the head of the department. It was from among eighteen applicants that Szende Riedl (1831-1873) was selected and appointed professor of 'Hungarian Language and Style of Business' and head of the department.
The study surveys the educational activities pursued at the university under Riedl's leadership, and clarifies the circumstances of the department's end, due to the arbitrary departure of Riedl for Pest in 1860.