Vlasta Havelková

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Vlasta Havelková
Born(1857-12-16)16 December 1857
Blansko, Moravia, Austrian Empire
Died16 June 1939(1939-06-16) (aged 81)
Prague, Czechoslovakia
Employer(s)Mährische Ornamente
Náprstek Museum
OrganizationOlomouc Ethnographic Society
SpouseJan Havelka (m. 1876, d. 1886)
Children1
Parents
RelativesKarla Absolonová-Bufková (sister)
Lucie Bakešová (sister)
Madlena Wanklová (sister)
Karel Absolon (nephew)
Vladimír Jindřich Bufka (nephew)

Vlasta Havelková (née Wankelová; 16 December 1857 – 16 June 1939) was a Czech ethnographer, archaeologist and collector of folk embroidery. She was member of the Olomouc Ethnographic Society and custodian of the Náprstek Museum in Prague.

Biography

Havelková was born on 16 December 1857 in Blansko, Moravia, Austrian Empire (now in the Czech Republic).[1][2] She was the second youngest of the four daughters born to Jindřich Wankel, a palaeontologist and archaeologist known as the "father of Moravian archaeology",[3] and his wife Eliška Wanklová (née Šímová), an ethnographer and national revivalist.[4] Her sisters were Karla Absolonová-Bufková, writer and folklorist;[5] Lucie Bakešová, folklorist and social activist;[6] and Madlena Wanklová, writer and feminist.[7]

Havelková was educated at municipal school in Blansko, before studying at the Higher Girls' School in Prague (Czech: Vyšší dívčí škola v Praze),[2] which her elder sister Karla also attended.[5]

On 11 May 1876, Havelková married Jan Havelka,[1][2] a Moravian high school professor, painter, writer and ethnographer.[8] They had a daughter together called Milada, who became a still life painter and married a professor at the School of Applied Arts in Prague.[9] Havelková was widowed in 1886.[8]

Havelková's husband was responsible for the establishment of the Patriotic Association of Museums in Olomouc, which built the first museum in the city in 1883.[8] Havelková collected thousands of examples of folk textiles for the museum and organized the first ethnographic exhibition.[2] She became the curator of textiles at the Regional Museum in Olomouc (Czech: Vlastivědné muzeum v Olomouci)[10] and was a member of the Olomouc Ethnographic Society.[1]

Náprstek Museum in Prague

From 1888 to 1891, Havelková published the journal Mährische Ornamente, which focused on traditional Slavic folk arts. The journal featured contributions from her family, including her father and her sister Madlena.[10] She also actively participated in archaeological research at the Late Pleistocene hill site at Předmostí u Přerova.[1]

From 1906, Havelková was the custodian of the Náprstek Museum in Prague, one of the permanent exhibitions of the Czech National Museum.[1][11]

Havelková died on 16 June 1939 in Prague, Czechoslovakia, aged 81.[1][2]

Arne Novák called her the "Moravian grandmother of ethnography."[1]

References

  1. "Vlasta Havelková". Encyklopedie dějin Brna (in Czech). Retrieved 20 March 2026.
  2. Písková, Milada. "HAVELKOVÁ Vlasta 1857–1939". Biografický slovník českých zemí (in Czech). Retrieved 20 March 2026.
  3. "Blanenský chodec: Děvčátko, jež stálo modelem Mánesovi". Blanenský deník (in Czech). 6 October 2012. Retrieved 20 March 2026.
  4. Kulaviaoková, Dagmar (2008) Příběh ženské emancipace v rodině Jindřicha Wankela (in Czech). p. 58.
  5. Večerková, Eva. "BUFKOVÁ-WANKLOVÁ Karla 1855–1941". Biografický slovník českých zemí (in Czech). Retrieved 20 March 2026.
  6. "Lucie Bakešová". Encyklopedie dějin Brna. Retrieved 20 March 2026.
  7. Weilen, Josef (1897). Die österreichisch-ungarische Monarchie in Wort und Bild: bd.] Mähren und Schlesien. 1897 (in German). K.K. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei. p. 313.
  8. Písková, Milada. "HAVELKA Jan 1839–1886". Biografický slovník českých zemí (in Czech). Retrieved 20 March 2026.
  9. "Milada Schusser". Encyklopedie dějin Brna (in Czech). Retrieved 20 March 2026.
  10. Houze, Rebecca (5 July 2017). "Textiles, Fashion, and Design Reform in Austria-Hungary Before the First World War ": Principles of Dress. Routledge. pp. 5, 108, 118. ISBN 978-1-351-54687-4.
  11. "Ottův slovník naučný illustrovaná encyklopaedie obecných vědomostí". Digitální knihovna Kramerius (in Czech). Prague: J. Otto. 1909. p. 546. Retrieved 20 March 2026.