Nature-philosophy in the first half of the 19th century
Author: Lenka Ovčáčková
Ilustrations: Kristýna Adámek Mlynaříková
Audio/Voice: Gabriel Andrews
This trail stops at selected places in the Gratzen Mountains to present not only the wealth of natural-philosophical ideas of the polyhistorian, Count J. F. A. Buquoy (1781–1851), but also to highlight the incredibly broad range of this thinker’s interests in connection with the natural sciences, from both a theoretical and practical perspective. This private scholar’s fascination with mathematics, physics, chemistry, botany, physiology, zoology and other natural sciences and economics also found practical application in the construction of the first wooden steam engine in Bohemia, in the production of unique hyalite glass and in the establishment of Žofínský prales, the first European nature reserve. The trail can be completed on a bike in just one day; it takes two days on foot.
Review: Karolína Pauknerová
English version: Lucie Nováková, Magdalena Pehalová, Alex Aylward
Through the landscape of the Gratzen Mountains with a polyhistorian, Count J. F. A. Buquoy