Czechs celebrating their most famous chronicler, but today no one wants the job

This year Czechs are marking 900 years since the death of the country’s most famous chronicler Cosmas, author of Chronica Boemorum or Chronicle of the Bohemians, the first known documentation of  Czech history. Many town halls are hoping that the celebration of his legacy could raise interest in a job no one wants.

Source: Czech National Library

The National Library and Prague City Tourism are commemorating Cosmas’ life and work with a wide variety of events. The highlight will be an exhibition due to open on September 25 in the Klementinum Gallery and the Mirror Chapel where almost all surviving medieval manuscripts of Cosmas’s chronicle will be on display, including the rare Leipzig manuscript with the only preserved depiction of the author. The exhibition highlights Cosmas’ influence on Czech historiography and cultural memory.

Czech chronicler Kosmas, painting on the wall in Mladota’s House at Prague Castle by J. Vodňanský|Photo: Profimedia

While the fame of the first Czech chronicler has survived through many generations, the art of keeping a town chronicle is waning. In an era where almost everyone keeps a chronicle of their own lives on social networks, no one wants the task of creating a town chronicle.

Municipalities still have the legal duty to keep chronicles, but there is no penalty for failing to do so. So when no one volunteers, the books stay empty. Archivists try to help, by training new recruits, or nudging mayors to find someone willing, but it’s not easy.

Denis Lampa from Svobodné Heřmanice was once the youngest chronicler in Czechia|Photo: Romana Kubicová, Czech Radio

Younger people rarely see the appeal. Even though modern day chronicles could be written in digital form and complemented by videos, the job itself is demanding, underpaid, and often thankless. Czech Radio’s regional correspondent David Macháček explains:

“The old generation of chroniclers -the ones we would call “old-school” –is coming to an end. These are the chroniclers who kept their records by hand, filling one book after another in neat handwriting, and filing them for posterity. These chroniclers are on their way out –they either lack the strength or admit that their hand is no longer steady enough for the task. And younger people aren’t drawn to it, because even though chronicles no longer necessarily have to be written by hand it is work that is not very attractive. And sometimes the reason may also be a different perspective between the chronicler and the town hall on what and how to record.”

Jindřich Josef Turek, chronicler of Cheb|Photo: Josef Šorfa, Czech Radio

The town of Doksy, north of Prague, has finally found a chronicler after a twenty-year search. The lady in question will start with a huge backlog. She has been asked to try to fill in the main events that shaped the town over the past two decades for the sake of continuity. However, backdating entries has one disadvantage – it will be more or less formal and lack human observation that would capture the nature of life in the town.

David Macháček says the law does not determine what information a chronicle must contain, but it  is vital that they contain something more than budgets or building permits.

“A town chronicle should capture the most important moments in the life of the municipality through the chronicler’s perspective. Because the hard data is already recorded in other documents. What is most valuable about chronicles is that besides those hard facts, they also capture the atmosphere, the mood, provide refreshing observations. Those are the things archivists consider important, the personal touch of the chronicler. Keeping a chronicle is a specific skill or more precisely, a set of skills. A good chronicler must not only be able to gather and sort information, but must also have a good feel for language. They should also be able to either take photographs or perhaps make illustrations. And on top of all that, they must be thorough and persistent.”