Vladimir Plicka

Nestor of Bratislava guides

He was born on January 10, 1890 in Vienna to a Czech family of a machine locksmith. After his family returned to Bohemia, he graduated from the Teachers' Institute in Polička (1908) and furthered his pedagogical education at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Prague (1912–13) and Comenius University in Bratislava (1922–25). At the same time, he mastered modern foreign language teaching at several foreign universities and institutes, visiting almost all European countries and traveling through several of them on foot.

He settled in Bratislava in April 1919 and taught languages ​​and history at several secondary schools until 1948. Bratislava soon became close to his heart, not only because of its monuments and cultural environment, but also thanks to meeting his wife Zlatica Radovičová-Rónai, who became his lifelong support.

He maintained very good relations with the German minority in Slovakia. Thanks to his excellent knowledge of Slovak and German, he broke down language barriers between nations and organized popular Slovak language courses for German listeners, which helped them to better participate in the public life of the recently established Czechoslovakia.

As a man of versatile interests, he was also involved in various other social areas - he co-founded regional libraries in Slovakia, contributed to the construction of children's playgrounds in Bratislava, was a member of the committee of the Slovak Museum of Local Lore, and even performed as a baritone in the Slovak Teachers' Choir.

A permanent place in his life was occupied by a love of history and art, which is why he intensively studied the history of Bratislava and Slovakia, especially legends and folklore. He was among the first collectors of verbal folklore in the urban environment. He focused his research mainly on Bratislava's Podhradie and the present-day city districts of Devín, Devínska Nová Ves, Karlova Ves, Lamač, Podunajské Biskupice, but also on some parts of Záhorie. He did not keep the acquired knowledge only to himself; as an excellent teacher and rhetorician, he wanted to popularize it among the public.

In the years 1919-38, he was therefore involved in the Enlightenment Association for Slovakia, where, as a member of the lecture department, he organized numerous lecture series on various topics (history, literature, ethnography, folklore, fine arts). In addition, he laid the foundations of organized tour guiding activities in the 20s, when he organized excursions around Bratislava for foreign teachers during exchange trips within the framework of the Slovak Teachers' Association. He accompanied them himself, but also invited prominent experts (e.g. archaeologist Jan Eisner, art historian Jan Hofman). At the same time, he also instilled a love for the city in his students, for whom he organized engaging historical walks in his free time after classes. According to the memoirs, they were "excellent. Passers-by also joined us students, which the professor was always very pleased about and accepted them into our company with the words: ""Are you also interested in our beautiful city?" He did it with enthusiasm and a wide smile on his face, which was all joy."

Last but not least, he published in many periodicals, while the impressive scope of his journalism has not been mapped to this day. As part of this, extremely valuable series on the history and sights of Bratislava were also created (e.g. Listujeme v kamennéj kronike Bratislava or Po stopách novej a starej Bratislava). His work on the editorial board of the Devín monthly (1932–38) was also significant.

His first book publications included the two-volume work Slovak Castles (1930, 1934), which some German schools included as model reading in their curricula. He processed collected Slovak tales in the books Tatars and Turks (1943), Kurucs (1944), Robbers (1945), and At Dawn (1945). The stories focused on Bratislava were Hlas bratislavských studní a fontán (1946), Veselé fígle bratislavského avodnára (1948), as well as Baedeker's Guide to Bratislava (1948).

In 1948, he left his career as a teacher and worked for two more years at the Department of Education, Enlightenment and Physical Education of the Regional National Committee. Then he finally retired and fully developed his activities as a local history guide. He became a pioneer of the guide activity in Bratislava. He predetermined the forms, content and level of popularization of the city's cultural and historical monuments in their broader context. He was considered a prototype of a local history guide, the embodiment of the ideal combination of its content and formal aspects. He was distinguished by his deep knowledge, mastery of the material, brilliant delivery spiced with humorous elements, personal charm and cultivated appearance (with a typical hat and walking stick). His local history walks had an unprecedented response from the public, and Plicka remained faithful to his original concept - he did not refuse anyone to join, everyone who was interested was allowed to take part in the walk. In this spirit, the long-time lecturer of the course, Vladimír Hančin, also mentioned Plicka: "I became an unofficial member of the small group to whom he gave a lecture about the Old Town Hall. I didn't know that it was possible to talk so engagingly and passionately about the bay windows. What another guide bypassed by stating that the bay window was from such and such a century, the professor was able to bring to light by highlighting the beauty of the details – stone frames, glass, paintings. He convinced me that there is beauty even in detail, you just have to know how to look and talk about it. He knew how to place a trumpeter, a city official or a mayor in that bay window as he announced an important message to the gathered citizens. That had to be heard, it is difficult to describe.

With his attractive example, he also aroused professional interest among other lovers of the city, some of whom came from old Prešov families and from whom the first generation of local guides around Bratislava was formed (e.g. Gejza Bálint, Pavol Danninger, Viliam Frank, Jozef Lamoš). According to the memoirs of the course lecturer Mária Tankovičová: "There were a few of them, you could easily count them on two hands. They were enchanted by the beauty of the city in which they were born more than half a century ago. They were almost of retirement age, but nothing prevented them from fully accepting what the master of Bratislava's guides, Professor Vladimír Plicka, was giving them from the rich history of our city. They had already mapped out their old Prešporok long ago, first as scouts, later as students of the secondary school, high school and other schools, but they were still far from the professor's expertise. They devoured his words and later, in groups, in a café over a cup of coffee, or somewhere in private, they discussed what they had heard, complemented each other, collected the necessary materials, not only in Slovak, but also in Hungarian and German, because they all spoke both of these languages. It was interesting to listen to their little quibbles, persuasions and teachings..."  It was for his merits in this sphere of culture that he was the first to be awarded the Bratislava City Award in 1955.

BKIS continues Vladimír Plicka's legacy on two levels – with the cycle of historical walks, A Date with the City, and the course, Tourist Guide.

The history of organized home history walks dates back to 1958, when in the first half of the year the Folk University prepared a cycle of walks and lectures on the history and monuments of Bratislava, with Vladimír Plicka as the lecturer. According to the monuments, so many people attended these events that it was difficult to hear the guide in the field. In the second half of 1958, with Plicka's blessing, the home history center of the City House of Education (later the City House of Culture and Education, MDKO) took over the initiative, which prepared an extensive home history cycle starting on July 12th and continuing every Sunday. In 1965, the Bratislava Information Service (BIS, today BKIS) was established as an independent department of the MDKO, into which the MDKO Homeland Studies Center was incorporated a year later, along with regular homeland studies walks, organized until 2011. After a hiatus of several years, the BKIS resumed these walks (2020) under the name Rande s mestom.

The guide course was opened shortly after the establishment of the MDKO local history center, formed from the local history circle around Vladimír Plicka (2nd half of the 50s), no later than 1962. This course, as well as local history walks, was taken over by BIS (BKIS) in 1966 and has been organized continuously to this day.

Vladimír Plicka died on June 26, 1965 in Bratislava. He is buried in Slávičý údolí, and since 1990 his bust by academic sculptor Ludwik Korkoš has been placed on his tombstone. Since 1970, Plicka has also been commemorated by a street in Rača and a monument unveiled there in 1990 on the occasion of his centenary (authors academic sculptor Ludwik Korkoš and engineer architect Tibor Varga). In 2002, the bronze bust was stolen from the monument, which was replaced a year later with an epoxy replica (author Juraj Margoč).

Author of the text: Ján Vyhnánek