The Kojakovice Peasant Museum
and
Information Center
opening hours season 2007:
1 June 2007 - 31 August 2007:
Every day except Monday 09:00 - 17:00
April, May, and September 2007:
Sat. & Sun.: 10:00 - 17:00
The Center is closed from October 2006 till April 2007.
Guided tours available upon timely request, even during winter closure.
Entrance to all parts of the Center is free of charge, Internet connections available
Museum Focus: 19th century farm life
Kojakovice is a typical example of a small village in rural South Bohemia. The museum focuses on how the farmers and peasants lived and worked in kojakovice and surroundings. Initially, the exhibitions focus on the period around the Revolution of 1848 till the first World War (1914-1918), when the Czech lands were still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The revolution was suppressed, but the Empire had to concede many concessions, including abolishing serfdom and allowing larger personal freedom.
Emigration to America
One impact of the larger freedom gained after 1848 is shown most strikingly in the large numbers of Czechs emigrating to America.
Today, almost nobody from the region, certainly not younger people, realize how many people emigrated to America in that period and how large an impact this had on almost every family in all villages in the region. Our emigration exhibition tells about the reasons for emigration and about the life and experiences of the emigrants in their new homeland.
Attention, Museum in Progress
On 2 June 2001, the doors of the former school in Kojakovice were formally opened for public again, for the first time in 25 years (see pictures of the event). The years of lack of maintenance have taken their toll on this historic, early 20th century building. Most of the paint has disappeared and the wood is in bad condition. Birds had nested throughout the building, using the broken windows to enter and leave. Heating and water systems were unserviceable and the previous electric system -with cloth isolated wires in metal tubing- qualifies for a protected status as historic material.
Today, thanks to a strong local and regional support, and with financial support from the Rockefeller Brother Fund, the Foundation Open Society Prague, the PHARE Regional Development Program, the Municipality of Jilovice, the Greenways Prague -Vienna Program hosted by the Environmental Partnership, and private donations, essential repairs have been made and the Center now is open regularly.
Attention, Museum in progress is not so much a name but a concept. Long-term research projects will help document the history of this village, its historic bioregion and its people as far back as possible. New found historic data and information of living relatives of those who emigrated will be added to the exhibition in a continuous updating process. And finally, conservation of existing historic buildings and the living cultural heritage of this village is a continuous process.
Permanent exhibit
Through the topics "early days", ""meeting and recognition", "war", "school", "home", and "relationship", a sketch of life in the village in the 19th century is given. Copies of church records and family trees show the succession of farmers in this and other villages in the region. Copies of cadaster registers and other documents and maps show the transfer of farms, lands and goods from generation to generation. The material also show the circumstances in which villagers were deciding: "will we emigrate or stay and try survive here". Life in the old land was a known factor, but increasingly poor economic conditions for smaller farmers, population growth, and the industrial revolution were changing that. With serfdom abolished, emigration to North America became a gambling way out of looming poverty.
Emigration documents, material from Bremerhaven and Hamburg, passenger lists, and pictures and posters of the ships show the emigration, based upon data from known emigrants from this region.
An outline of the United States shows the main Czech settlements. A special place is reserved for the village Oxford Junction, Iowa, where at least 15-20 families from this region ended up. Photo’s from Oxford Junction, and other US and Canadian places, show some of the areas where the villagers emigrated to, the houses they build there etc.
The visitor is asked to compare the images with the daily life seen through the windows, noticing the differences and similarities between the past and the present, and between the current Czech village and pictures from past and present in Oxford Junction, a village so very similar in appearance, size and surrounding landscape.
More details about the history of the village and pictures can be found on the Kojakovice history page. Details and pictures about emigration can be found on the page Why They Went, Czech Emigration to America 1848-1914.
Help Us Build Our Museum, Link With Your Roots
If your family was originally from the village of Kojakovice or its surroundings and you are interested in family history, please contact us. We would be happy to include your family history in our database. This will help us to get a complete picture of how many people left this village and its historic bioregion and emigrated from the Czech Republic to America, and what happened to them in their new homeland.
Your donation can help us!
The visitor, and the villagers, are constantly reminded that this is a project in progress; the exhibitions are still in development and clearly further restoration of the building is needed. The entrance to the museum is free, but all visitors are challenged to contribute, with their ideas, donations or in kind, to the further realization of the exhibitions and the project at large.
This is something you can contribute to as well. We invite you to take a tour through our website and visit our donation page for more details about how to make a donation, or contact us by email at info@rozmberk.org. American visitors can also give tax-deductible donations through the Friends of the Rozmberk Scoiety Inc, an Iowa-incorporated charity with 501 (c) (3) status.
For more information, guided tours or other activities:
Tel: +420 384 724698
Email: info@rozmberk.org.
