Publication details
Review of: Josef Cibulka. Kněz, pedagog a historik umění ve 20. století, Michal Sklenář, Kristina Uhlíková, Vít Vlnas eds, Prague, Ústav pro studium totalitních režimů – Ústav dějin umění AV ČR, v.v.i. / Katolická teologická fakulta Univerzity Karlovy, 2020
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| Year of publication | 2023 |
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| Description | University professor, art historian, and Catholic priest: such pedigree rarely surprises in twentieth-century historiography. We can recall important figures such as Joseph Wilpert, Franz Joseph Dölger or Engelbert Kirschbaum who, while being priests, had a crucial impact on the development of Christian archeology and art history. Priesthood was a vocation but also, in many cases, an instrument of social ascent and of access to higher education. In turn, this position led to debates and problems due to the conflict between combining ecclesiastical duties and the need for scholarly integrity. Josef Cibulka (1866–1968), the focal figure of the collective monograph under review here, was part of this priest-scholar tradition. Much celebrated in Czechoslovak academia, Cibulka was a renowned art historian, but at the same time positioned himself in the social and political issues and debates of the Catholic church as a priest from the late nineteenth to the middle of the twentieth century. Today praised as a bon vivant and a pioneer of Christian archeology and art history in Czechoslovakia, his life is interesting for a variety of different aspects – including more problematic moments within his life and career – which this book articulates for the reader. |