Among Zoroastrian burial items, there is a camel-shaped zoomorphic OSTADON lying there. It was found…
František Hanek, the 8th Regiment’s military bandmaster in the Turkmen city of Mary and in the Uzbek city of Kattakurgan, was among the first to donate items to the Central Asian collection of the Náprstek Museum.
Little is known about his personality. The archive of the Museum only preserved his letter to the Náprsteks, sent on July 6, 1894, in which, among other things, he confirmed the letter and the package sent earlier – on May 22 of the same year. The letter contained a portrait of Hanek and three of his photos from Central Asia. The letter itself is a valuable document, reproducing the realities of the Bukhara Emirate at that time – a period when Emir Seid Abdul-Ahad Khan (1885 – 1910) of the Uzbek Manghit dynasty ruled.
In his letter Hanek shares his impressions about everyday life in the emirate in the late 19th century:
“Katta-Kurgan is located between the cities of Bukhara and Samarkand, 160 miles from the former (1 mile – 1,609 km, tr. note), 67 miles to the latter. The city itself has only 1,200 people of Russian origin and 15,000 of local origin. Bukhara, which I recently visited, is a huge Asian city with narrow streets and houses built of clay. Due to the kindness of the Bukhara minister Mr Murberdalev, whom I know personally, I was granted access to the underground prison and to the city. The emir’s winter palace is in the center of the city, and a little further from there is a tall tower. From this place we went to the emir’s summer palace, located three versts (a Russian unit of distance equal to 1.067 kilometres (0.6629 miles), tr. note) from Bukhara. The rooms – at least 300, I think, – are not that beautiful, but tastefully furnished. In the large reception hall, you can see a golden throne, presented by the Russian tsar, huge expensive carpets, and an ariston on a small table. Now the emir is in his second summer residence in Kermene. The emir’s brother is an officer in the Russian army, and his son studies at the Cadet School in St. Petersburg. As for folk art, the women of Bukhara are famous embroideresses – I will look for an opportunity to fulfill your request. In Katta-Kurgan, I am an only Czech, so you will certainly understand how much I miss our homeland.”
František Hanek donated twenty two items to the Náprstek Museum (mostly from Uzbekistan, but partly from Turkmenistan). According to the Museum’s inventory records (Historical inventory III: 95, 132, 333, 369), the Museum got the first items from Hanek’s collection as early as in 1896, and the latest – in 1899.
You can learn more about the topic in the book-album "The Collection of the Czech Republic" (Volume XVI) in the series "Cultural Legacy of Uzbekistan in the World Collections".
The main sponsor of the project is the oilfield services company Eriell-Group.
