Šrobárova sbírka

The exhibition draws on the extraordinary and at the same time almost unknown Šrobár's collection, the previously neglected part of the NZM collection. Thanks to this ensemble, created in the period of the First Republic under unusual circumstances, visitors can get acquainted with the unique paintings of realistic painters in the time span between the 16th and the 19th centuries. Part of the presented works will include, among other things, copies of the Rubens image of Opiley Silén.

The most valuable part of the collection of art of the National Museum of Agriculture (NZM) is the so-called Šrobárova sbírka. This unique set of paintings, which consists of 153 works of old masters and European painters of the 19th century, is named after its original owner, who was the first republic politician of Slovak origin MUDr. Vavro Strobar (1867-1950). How this important propagator of the idea of Czechoslovakia and the representative of the Slovak wing of the agrarian party has become the owner of such a large collection of paintings is still covered with a great secret. The answer to this question seems to be related to his political activities in Slovakia, where he served as a minister with a power of attorney in the years 1918-1920. According to one of the versions, he acquired a collection of paintings from the noble family of Pálffy, who tried to mitigate the effects of the first land reform on their landfills in all possible ways.

At the beginning of the 1930s, Vavro Šrobár and his companion, Bratislava's lawyer Gabriel Kuchta, were in great financial difficulties and a valuable collection of paintings pledged their creditors, the landlord Maximilian (Max) Egon the Prince of Fürstenberg (1896-1959 ). Since Srobar was one of the prominent members of the Republican Party of Agricultural and Minority People, his leadership decided to help him resolve this unpleasant affair. Under the agreement of December 20, 1934, Strobar's and Kucht's debt were paid by Czechoslovak Prime Minister Jan Malypetr (1873-1947) and MEP Rudolf Beran (1887-1954), who became new owners of the Šrobára collection. Both politicians donated the entire collection to the Central Association of Czechoslovak Farmers, who lent it to the Czechoslovak Agricultural Museum (ČSZM), the predecessor of the current National Agricultural Museum.

According to spectacular plans, all pictures should be displayed in the new CzZM building in Prague's Letná. This intention, however, overcame the occupation of Czech lands by Nazi Germany and the outbreak of World War II. In 1950, Šrobáro's collection came to the Kačina Chateau, which was assigned to the Agricultural Museum as a replacement for the museum building in Letná. In the museum depository, rare paintings remained unnoticed until the 1990s, when some of them were used to decorate the castle interiors in Kačina. Most of the works that make up the Strobar collection, however, remain hidden from the sight of NZM visitors. This shortcoming is at least in part trying to replace this exhibition, which offers both professionals and lay , people,a selection of the most interesting works from this unique and yet practically unknown collection of fine arts.