Abstrakt
The conference paper discusses the dynamics of small towns in the Czech Lands in the first half of the twentieth century, focusing in particular on the question of cultural growth and conditions of creativity in small towns. In the first part, the paper analyzes discourse of Czech regionalists that concerned new cultural roles for small towns in Czechoslovakia.
Subsequently, the paper discusses example of a small town called Kdyně, which served as a testing field - and a widely promoted 'good practice' - of what a small town could aspire to in terms of culture and creativity in the condition of the first modernity, with the focus on actors' views and interpretations of cultural growth. In the final parts, the paper considers limits and structural preconditions of cultural growth, its replicability and sustainability, while glimpsing on a small town called Heřmanův Městec.