Project Identification DG18P02OVV021

Project Period 3/2018 - 12/2022

Investor / Pogramme / Project type Ministry of Culture of the CR

• NAKI II: Applied research and development of national and cultural identity 2016 -2020

The aim of the project is to create tools contributing to preservation, scholarly registration, presentation and accessibility of broadside ballads. In the centre of the attention are funds in Moravian Library in Brno, in the Brno’s department of the Institute of Ethnology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v. v. i., and in Ethnographic Institute in Moravian Museum. In total the funds contain about 17 000 broadside ballads from the period of the 17th to 19th century.

The instrument to achieve mentioned goals is the methodology for the creation of bibliographic records of broadside ballads, which will be possible to be used by other institutions managing artefacts of similar type, and the preparation of the broad-based exhibitions, which will present broadside ballads from the collections of institutions in Brno as a specific type of cultural heritage. The presentation on the user-friendly level will be guaranteed also by the specialized map, focused on the presentation of the regionally-geographic origin of the collections. Involvement of researchers from different fields allows to present the broadside ballads in the complex way, with emphasis on the textual, musical and also visual side. Broadside ballads are unique artefacts, genre and thematically various. It is possible to demonstrate on them the understanding of the contemporary mentality (sacred discourse and profane interests of the recipient in the researched period) and their significance for preservation of continuity of the standard language in the period between the Baroque epoch and the National revival period.

Among other outcomes of the project are several monographs of interdisciplinary character, conference and workshop concerning the problematic of broadside ballads. Above mentioned will be presented as the outcomes of the team of experts from different fields.