Prof. Dr. Holger Zaunstöck – Dr. Thomas Grunewald: The international relations of the Halle Orphanage in the early modern times

Organized by the Institute of History of the Czech Academy of Sciences with the Centre for the History of Education and the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences

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Prof. Dr. Holger Zaunstöck – Dr. Thomas Grunewald (Franckesche Stiftungen Halle): The international relations of the Halle Orphanage in the early modern times

Abstract
The Halle Orphanage was founded in 1698 by the pietist theologian and educator August Hermann Francke in Glaucha, close to the then Prussian city of Halle. Driven by the desire for a general and comprehensive reform of the entire society of his time through education and upbringing, Francke gradually established various schools for children of all social backgrounds and genders, a bookshop and publishing house, a cabinet of artifacts and natural curiosities, a library building, a pharmacy with a global drug trade, residential buildings, a children's hospital and various utility buildings. This baroque „School Town“ is known today as the Francke Foundations.

Francke's reform program was international in a double sense: Children from all Protestant regions of Europe attended the schools in Halle, while at the same time Protestant missions to India and activities in British North America departed from the Orphanage. Pastors and schoolmen trained by Francke were sent to England, Denmark and Russia, for example, and Bibles printed at the Orphanage were delivered to the Baltic states, Hungary, Silesia and Bohemia. Through these contacts and the goal of reforming the entire society of the time, the Halle Orphanage formed a multi-layered network of relationships in which people, books, medicines and objects traveled.

The lecture will provide an overview of these diverse relationships and take a special look at Francke's connections to Bohemia. Francke received important impulses for his educational work from Amos Comenius, especially in hindsight of real life teaching (Realienunterricht).