Une alliance inachevée. Les études byzantines (et slaves) comme force fédératrice dans la Tchécoslovaquie d’entre‑deux‑guerres

• Title in English: An Unfinished Alliance: Byzantine (and Slavic) Studies as a Federative Force in Interwar Czechoslovakia
• Authors: PALLADINO Adrien
• Year of publication: 2025
• Type: Article in Periodical
• Magazine / Source: Études byzantines et post-byzantines
• MU Faculty or unit: Faculty of Arts
• web: https://www.academia.edu/145428390/Une_alliance_inachevée_Les_études_byzantines_et_slaves_comme_force_fédératrice_dans_la_Tchécoslovaquie_dentre_deux_guerres
• Keywords: Czechoslovakia; Byzantine studies; intellectual history; interwar period; European cultural diplomacy; emigration; Slavic studies

Attached files

• palladino_2025_alliance_inachevee_tchecoslovaquie_etudes_byzantines.pdf
• palladino_2025_alliance_inachevee_tchecoslovaquie_etudes_byzantines_jvkddrqq.pdf

• Description: Beginning with Czechoslovakia’s participation in the 1924 Congress of Byzantine Studies, this article examines the role played by Byzantine and Slavic studies in the cultural and political vision of the First Czechoslovak Republic. Far from occupying a peripheral position, these fields were mobilized as instruments of national cohesion and international engagement. Under the guidance of figures such as Matija Murko and Nikodim P. Kondakov, and inspired by the ideals of Tomáš G. Masaryk, Prague emerged during the interwar years as a vital hub for Byzantine and Slavic studies. Institutions such as the Institute of Slavonic Studies, the Seminarium Kondakovianum, and the journal Byzantinoslavica embodied the ambition to inscribe Czechoslovak identity within a broader historical and cultural continuum linking the Slavic world to the Byzantine legacy. Yet this project – rooted, at least rhetorically, in ideals of transnational dialogue and intellectual exchange – was gradually weakened by mounting geopolitical tensions, the resurgence of nationalism, and the spread of authoritarian regimes. This contribution invites a reassessment of this moment as a significant chapter in the intellectual history of Byzantine studies in the twentieth century.