National cultural monument: the Administrative building with the premises - the First Building of the Slovak Matica
The building of the Slovak Matica in Martin is open to the public. It is still true that when one says "Martin" in Slovakia, "Matica slovenská" resonates somewhere in the subconscious of the public. And that's good! Our first national cultural institution deserves to be remembered by our people.
The Slovak Matica was founded in 1863 in accordance with the Memorandum of the Slovak Nation for 1000. Cyril and Methodius. It was the first national supra-confessional cultural institution. Since its foundation, it built up museum collections and a library with an emphasis on Slovak culture. It published books and magazines in the Slovak language and organised cultural, educational and awareness-raising events for the public. It also carried out other beneficial activities. After 12 years of activity, however, its activities were forcibly interrupted by the Hungarian government in 1875.
Historic building and its development
The first building of the Slovak Matica is a symbol of this important era. It has an interesting history. At the time of its establishment, Turčiansky svätý Martin, where it was founded, did not have suitable premises for its functioning. The first general assembly of the Slovak Matrix was held in 1863 on the square under a makeshift wooden shelter "demolished" for this purpose. The town therefore decided to build a joint building with the Slovak Matica on the site of the old town building.
The city therefore put its land and financial capital into this joint venture in exchange for the sold mountain, with the condition that the people of Martin would also use its premises. Until 1869, when the Matica slovenská owned the entire building after buying it from the town. The Matica announced a fund-raising for the construction of the "national (Slovak) lighthouse" and Slovaks literally collected by the grajcia to finance it.
Lack of capital meant that construction was done in stages, slowly, until - in the first phase of the building's existence - it was not built. The selection of the designer was not a happy development either. Construction began in 1864 according to the design of Charles Harrer. Then Jan N. Bobula took over the construction, but in the end it was not built even according to his design. The unfinished building was handed over for use a year later. When the Matica became the sole owner of the building, it commissioned a third project to complete the building and to solve the existing construction problems from the architect Michal Urbánek, but he soon died and the Matica Slovenská Matica was soon dissolved.
According to the first architectural version, the building was to have an austere classical façade. The building was not completed in its present form (i.e. on the originally planned scale) until 1900 in the Neo-Baroque style for the needs of the state offices. In 1919, after the establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic, the Matica slovenská was reopened and the state returned the building to it. However, it was no longer sufficient for the activities of the ambitious plans of the old-new institution. It built a new second building and started to use it in 1926. The first building was again used for the state facilities of the post office and the court. When these institutions moved out, the building was put back into administration. Until the construction of the third building, the Matica Slovenska had its workplaces here for some time.In the 1980s it was reconstructed. Now it houses the workplace of the Slovak National Library - the Slovak National Literary Museum.
Inner spaces
In the beginning, the central room of the building was a hall with a height of over two storeys. It had a stage and gallery and was used for meetings, but it also served as a ballroom and for theatrical performances. On the floor with a pavilion facing the courtyard were apartments. The family of Viliam Pauly-Tóth also lived here. The exterior decoration of the eastern facade is dominated by the main entrance, above which is a balcony and a richly decorated gable. The building has a U-shaped plan with a garden with three lime trees inside.
Here dominates on a granite pedestal the monument of S. H. Vajanský, who is wearing an antique cloak, wearing a laurel wreath on his head and condescendingly watching the child at his feet. The monument was created by the Czech sculptor František Úprka and was intended to be part of a larger sculpture. At first it was located right in front of the entrance to the second building of the Slovak Matrix from 1926. The statue suffered a lot from unflattering remarks of visitors, so in 1964 it was moved to this quiet place.
The literary exposition is frequently visited by school tours, they receive a lot of information from erudite guides through the exposition. There are also frequent interesting exhibitions, mostly related to literature. An audio-visual hall is used for intimate events. The National Hall is the venue for important ceremonial events. The garden was occasionally used on warm summer evenings for meetings with writers and literature - once upon a time.
Text: PhDr. Milan Gonda
Actual photos of monuments donated by Mgr. Ján Farský
Historical photos provided by Ing. Vladimír Bullo
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