The 40th international conference of the Prague City Archives and its partners focussed on the presence of animals in the urban space. The topic was so stimulating that it attracted a large number of experts from various research disciplines.

In his opening paper, JIŘÍ PEŠEK (Prague) outlined the main directions that discussions could take while also pointing out that although the city is regarded as the opposite of nature – it is nevertheless a product of nature and remains part of it to a certain extent. Pešek specifically mentioned problems surrounding the coexistence of people and animals in the city, e.g., the extent to which these creatures affected the appearance of cities and what the conditions of their stabling or grazing were. While he also mentioned the popularity of exotic animals and pets, Pešek drew attention to the possible lack of sources on these matters, which in the past were regarded as mostly marginal. In chronological order, the presentations subsequently mapped the individual periods of coexistence between humans and animals within the area demarcated by the city walls.

Archaeological lectures were highly inspirational for the period for which we lack sufficient written sources. LENKA KOVAČIKOVÁ (České Budějovice), MONIKA OPELKOVÁ (Prague) and PETR STAREC (Prague) mapped a number of skeletal remains found in the historical layers of today’s Wenceslas Square in Prague. The speakers documented the use of animals in crafts, but also provided evidence of the consumption of various species of animals, including horses, fish and squirrels. They also spoke of the existence of pets as well as stray dogs and cats. The following paper by Lenka Kovačiková and OLGA TROJÁNKOVÁ addressed the similar study of skeletal remains in burgher houses in the medieval city of Most. Thanks to data obtained on the basis of the analysis of stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes of plants and animals, we can study changes in the breeding of individual species of livestock and changes in their diet.

Subsequent lectures then discussed the possibilities of drawing on written sources. GERHARD JARITZ (Vienna) analysed Viennese wills from the turn of the 15th century. He concluded that animals were only rarely mentioned in testaments, and in cases where they did appear, this mostly concerned cattle related to the deceased’s profession or livestock with greater financial value. ROMAN CZAJA and ANNA MALESZKA (Toruń) described the raising of cattle and its regulation in Prussian cities between the 14th and 16th centuries. Although individual burghers kept animals as part of their private economic activities, the city contributed heavily to animal husbandry by providing grazing areas but also by regulating the number of animals and the conditions for raising stocks through various regulations. This topic was elaborated by DOROTA ŻUREK (Kraków), who studied the raising of livestock in smaller Polish cities based on data from city books and tax registers. For his paper on the raising of pigs in the Hanseatic city of Wismar, MAXIMILIAN MAROTZ (Wismar) drew on 17th-century tax registers, emphasising the importance of pigs in consuming food waste. ATTILA TÓZSA-RIGÓ (Miskolc) addressed the regulation of livestock, with his research also looking at cattle raising in Early Modern Pressburg through city and especially chamber books.

The presence of fauna in towns can also be studied from nongovernment sources. KATARZYNA CHLEWICKA and ANNA MIKOŁAJEWSKA (Toruń) focused on reports of animals in the 18th-century Toruń weekly. For example, news reports often included advice on how to deal with pests such as insects and rodents. The authors also focused on the spiritual level of these articles. On the one hand, pests were considered to be God’s punishment, while on the other hand, they were presented as God’s creatures that have a place in the world. Based on narrative sources, JERZY RAJMAN (Kraków) mapped various representatives of birds and game in local nomenclature using the example of the settlement complex of medieval Kraków and its surroundings. VÁCLAV LEDVINKA (Prague) built on this work and attempted to analyse the names of Prague streets in a similar way, emphasising that only a minimum of animal topography has survived to this day.

There was great interest in exotic animals. BRIGITTE HUBER (Munich) talked about non-European fauna in Munich, which began with lions kept by the Munich dukes in the 15th century. Subsequently, the raising of exotic animals grew into a menagerie, and interest in this species resulted in efforts to establish a zoo in the 19th century. Zoological research began to develop at that same time. FERDINAND OPLL (Vienna) explained how exotic animals were brought to Europe through the story of two elephants received as a gift by Emperor Maximilian II in the middle of the 16th century. Both were transported to Europe via Portugal, from where they continued in the company of their Indian mahouts over land to Vienna. Their journey and their presence at the Viennese court aroused great interest among the locals. However, the elephants were more than an exotic spectacle; they were a diplomatic gift and represented the emperor as the ruler of the country and the city. The collecting passion of the rulers also played a role. ZDENĚK HOJDA (Prague) spoke about Rudolf II’s menagerie as recorded in the memoirs by visitors to Prague Castle, emphasising that this menagerie existed long after the emperor’s death, thus confirming Opll’s theory that it was a symbol of the monarch, despite the fact that he no longer lived in Prague. The menagerie also became a kind of link between the burghers and the court, as it was relatively freely accessible. It was just a small step from a menagerie to zoological gardens, which began to appear in the 19th century. HANA HERÁŇOVÁ (Prague) addressed the complicated path to founding of Prague zoo in 1931. SHAI BEN-AMI (Jerusalem) provided an unconventional view of the zoo, reflecting on the importance of lion breeding in Israeli zoos. He focused on three animals of this species, the keeping of which he considers symbolic. The lion is the animal most frequently mentioned in the Old Testament and also the symbol of Jerusalem.

Horses were a regular part of the city, and JIŘÍ SMRŽ (Prague) focussed on sources from the Early Modern period relating to their sale. Based on them, he presented the activities of the delegated horse court in Prague’s New Town. In time, this institution became the Bohemian arbitration body for disputes over horse markets. Buying a horse was a great financial burden and many people were forced to borrow money to make this purchase. MARIE BUŇATOVÁ (Prague) touched on the issue of the horse trade in a related article on Prague’s Jewish traders in the 16th century. She detailed the fate of the rich Jewish businessman Jakub Koníř from Černý family, who brokered the sale of horses for Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol. PAVLÍNA GOTTSTEINOVÁ (Jablonec nad Nisou) then answered the question of where these animals were kept in Prague. Based on the visitation protocol of the Theresian cadastre for Prague-New Town (1725/26), she illustrated how many houses in this locality had stables and how many animals they could hold. She also highlighted the problem that only livestock from which the owner made a profit were subject to registration. As such, we do not know how many animals burghers kept for their own needs. The discussion then raised the question of where the animals in cities came from. Several examples of horse breeders and cattle imports from Hungary were offered, but the issue deserves closer analysis.

Pets were also the focus of scholarly attention. KALINA MRÓZ-JABŁECKA and TOMASZ JABŁECKI (Wrocław) studied the period image of dogs in literature, especially in poems and treatises from the 17th century in Silesia and Upper Lusatia. As in the case of the Toruń treatise on pests, dogs were also looked at from different angles. In some works, they were praised as faithful and obedient to their master, while other authors considered them unclean; they were also to warn against danger. MARTIN SCHEUTZ (Vienna) dealt with the practical matters of caring for these pets based on advertisements published in the 18th century in Viennese papers, which were used to search for lost dogs. He spoke mainly about fashion or hunting dogs, for which owners were willing to pay a reward to their finders. He also pointed out the large number of dogs in Vienna and the difficulties associated with them. EWA WÓŁKIEWICZ (Warsaw) had a similar focus, based on the Wroclaw press. She tried to classify the function and especially the breed of dogs, which was only vaguely described at the time.

Fish are animals that are abundant in cities, even though they are forgotten. NINA MILOTOVÁ (Prague) recalled salmon fishing in the Vltava and the efforts to save this aquatic animal at the end of the 19th century, which were nonetheless doomed to failure due to river regulation. The subject of animals in the service of the police was also taken up. DAVID SMRČEK (Prague) was interested in police horses and researched how the use of mounted police in suppressing riots influenced the perception of this noble creature by common people. The work of mounted police units was also described by DAVID HUBENÝ (Prague), who likewise dealt with service dogs. Their introduction into permanent service was gradual and for years, the police used their own private animals at work. KAREL ŘEHÁČEK (Plzeň) reported on animals during the First World War in Plzeň. He mainly discussed the domestic animals that inhabitants of the city kept for their own consumption, but also the pests that were spread by refugees and as a result of the greater concentration of people in the city.

AGNIESZKA CHŁOSTA-SIKORSKA (Kraków) provided an interesting view of human-animal coexistence, speaking about the creation of Kraków’s Nowa Huta district. This town was founded in 1949 for workers and built on the site of original village settlements and fields, based on socialist social engineering. At its creation, the rural and newly conceived urban environment intermingled. Finally, ANEŽKA BAĎUROVÁ (Prague) presented animals depicted in the herbariums of the 16th and 17th centuries.

The conference illustrated the wide range of research opportunities on the presence of animals in the city and highlighted the fact that fauna has always formed and still forms an essential part of urban agglomerations. The individual articles at least basically summarised the main changes in the presence of animals in urban space. Initially, these were farm and draft animals, but over time, livestock was expelled from cities and subsequently their transport functions also declined; in contrast, the number of pets kept by residents increased. The city needed animals and was adapted to this purpose – there were barns, markets and crafts that employed animals for their activities. The scope of this topic was also demonstrated by the discussions, which were always lively and showed mainly the problems that researchers face, i.e., especially the lack of suitable resources, but also the different experiences in working with them. This interdisciplinary conference certainly contributed to improving the research base, as many sources that are not yet widely known were presented.

Conference overview:

Introduction

Jiří Pešek (Prague)

Panel 1

Lenka Kovačiková (České Budějovice), Monika Opelková (Prague), Petr Starec (Prague): Trends des Fleischkonsums und der Verwendung weiterer Tierprodukte in der Prager Neustadt im späten Mittelalter am Beispiel der Funde aus dem Gebiet des Wenzelsplatzes (Roßmarkts)

Lenka Kovačiková (České Budějovice), Olga Trojánková (Prague): Tiere in der mittelalterlichen Stadt Most aus Sicht der Archäozoologie

Panel 2

Gerhard Jaritz (Wien): Tiere und Tierprodukte im Letzten Willen. Das Beispiel Wiens (1395–1430)

Jerzy Rajman (Kraków): Fauna in the nomenclature of the settlement complex of Kraków in the Middle Ages

Roman Czaja, Anna Maleszka (Toruń): Tiere in den preußischen Städten im Mittelalter und in der frühen Neuzeit. Zwischen dem Gemeinwohl und der privaten Wirtschaftsführung

Dorota Żurek (Kraków): Animal husbandry in the economy of Lesser Poland towns in the 15th and 16th centuries

Panel 3

Katarzyna Chlewicka, Anna Mikołajewska (Toruń): Die Städte der Ameisen und die Städte der Menschen. Insekten und Nagetiere in dem Thorner Intelligenzblatt „Thornische Wöchentliche Nachrichten und Anzeigen“ in der zweiten Hälfte des 18. Jahrhunderts

Brigitte Huber (München): Haltung, Zurschaustellung und Erforschung exotischer Tiere in München

Ferdinand Opll (Wien): Die ersten beiden Elefanten in Wien. Exotische Tiere in der frühneuzeitlichen Stadt

Panel 4

Zdeněk Hojda (Prague): „Hier hält der Kaiser zwölf Kamele und einen gelben indischen Ochsen, der ganz zottelig ist …“ Exotische Tiere im Rudolfinischen Prag in den Augen der ausländischen Besucher

Hana Heráňová (Prague): Zoo für die Hauptstadt Prag

Shai Ben-Ami (Jerusalem): Zoo animals of Israel and their roles as symbols of Zionism and the return of the Jewish people to the land of Israel

Panel 5

Maximilian Marotz (Wismar): Das Schwein in der Hafenstadt. Auf der Suche nach dem Nutztier in Wismarer Quellen zwischen 1650 und 1670

Jiří Smrž (Prague): Das „Pferdevieh“ in den Gerichtsbüchern der Pferdehändler in der Prager Neustadt in der frühen Neuzeit

Marie Buňatová (Prague): Die jüdischen Pferdehändler im frühneuzeitlichen Prag

Pavlína Gottsteinová (Jablonec nad Nisou): Die Nutztiere in den Prager Häusern im Lichte des Visitationsprotokolls des Theresianischen Katasters der Jahre 1725–1726

Panel 6

Attila Tózsa-Rigó (Miskolc): „Der Kammerer kaufft auff margkht Habern und Ross.“ Tiere im frühneuzeitlichen Pressburg

Kalina Mróz-Jabłecka, Tomasz Jabłecki (Wrocław): Das Bild des Hundes im städtischen Raum des 17. Jahrhunderts am Beispiel Schlesiens und der Oberlausitz

Martin Scheutz (Wien): Bologneser und Windspiel in der Residenzstadt Wien. Hunde im „Wiener Diarum“ des 18. Jahrhunderts

Ewa Wółkiewicz (Warszawa): Modische Hunderassen in Breslau in der zweiten Hälfte des 18. Jahrhunderts

Panel 7

David Smrček (Prague): Das Polizeipferd und die Kontrolle der Menschenmenge am Beispiel Prags an der Wende des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts (Diskussionsbeitrag)

Nina Milotová (Prague): Fische in Prag. Die Prager und der „königliche Fisch“ Lachs im letzten Drittel des 19. Jahrhunderts im Lichte der Forschung von Antonín Frič (Diskussionsbeitrag)

David Hubený (Prague): Tiere und das Polizeidirektorium in der Ersten Tschechoslowakischen Republik

Karel Řeháček (Plzeň): Tiere im Krieg. Freud und Leid des Zusammenlebens der Pilsner mit den Tieren in den Jahren 1914–1918

Panel 8

Agnieszka Chłosta-Sikorska (Kraków): Nowa Huta between the village and the city in the 20th century

Anežka Baďurová (Prague): Tiere in der Umgebung und innerhalb menschlicher Behausungen nach der Aussage der alten Drucke