Egyptian Revival in Bohemia 1850-1920 (Czech Institute Monographs)

The book is an introduction to the Egyptian revival in its Czech - and by extension in its central European - context in the 19th and 20th centuries. Unlike the well-known and egregiously documented phenomenon of Egyptomania in both France and Britain, the Egyptian revival in Central Europe has thus far received little attention. The present study takes a closer look at how a part of the former central European Habsburg Empire, Bohemia, maintained relations with both the ancient and the modern Orient. The results of these diverse contacts might not be as imposing or eye-catching as elsewhere in Europe, but they offer a no less interesting look at how different aspects of the Orient were received and perceived in Europe.