Vedute of medieval or Early Modern walled cities, fortified 19th-century towns or even cliffs and mountain ranges reminiscent of the silhouettes of modern metropolises built of brick, concrete, steel and glass directly evoke an impression of sites cut off from nature. The vegetative component of nature has at least gradually found the partial grace of builders and city dwellers, especially in the form of ornamental flowers in window boxes, in gardens in more spacious residential quarters, and in parks and alleys. But what about animals?
Historians know, of course, that without animals, a city (large metropolitan cities, not small, semi-rural communities) could not function at all between the Middle Ages and at least the middle of the 20th century.
Therefore, let’s take a look at the urban existence of animals from a functional perspective: Animals were needed in the city mainly for hauling, transport and carrying loads, perhaps also for driving horse mills located away from a water source. This means that in cities from their beginning until the final victory of engines in the second half of the 20th century, we encounter a smaller yet significant number of horses, donkeys and mules. These animals lived separately in individual houses or farm areas, in large stables at palaces, monasteries, and later barracks, and we shouldn’t forget the thousands of horses harnessed in Prague, Vienna and Paris to carriages and rental farm transport wagons.
Substantial numbers of cows, sheep, goats and pigs (as well as large amounts of poultry) were also found in cities at least until the end of the Early Modern period. A large part of the four-legged companions of human existence were driven to pasture outside the city gates each day by municipal herdsmen. Conversely, herds of mainly cattle were brought to the city for slaughter at regular intervals. All the animals mentioned above were intended for consumption by the urban population, and for the processing of hides, bones, hooves, etc. For the sake of completeness, we should also mention fish caught from the Vltava and especially brought in a salted state to the “undrerlak” at the Cattle Market in Prague.
And we shouldn’t forget dogs, which served a variety of functions in the city. “Man’s best friend” patrolled residences and was his master’s bodyguard. The role of city dogs as pets, prestigious “objects” and companions for lonely people survives to this day. For a very long time, some breeds were also used as draught animals – classically by butchers for their deliveries. And let’s not forget stray dogs, which in the Early Modern period, sometimes in large packs, terrorised and even killed people from the very edge of society living at waste dumps. And yet, the greatest urban wildlife scourge was rodents, both as food raiders and the carriers of horrific diseases, to which insects can also be added.
The reality of the existence of animals in cities was anticipated and reflected in construction and urban planning concepts. How, then, did the presence of animals influence the appearance of city houses, quarters and urban units? Did animals find a response in it as a visual symbol? Given that the living conditions of animals in cities were not ideal from today‘s point of view, it is necessary to remember their clashes with humans, veterinary diseases and many threats that the animal component necessarily brought to everyday urban life.
A special chapter would then be the intentional introduction of purely non-urban – exotic – animals in the city environment. In this context, we can recall reports of the presence of elephants, camels and rhinos in European cities, brought here as gifts for rulers or as part of Oriental tidings. Various “menageries” had a more stable existence and were the first step towards the establishment of zoological gardens in the Early Modern period.
However, it is not our intention to overwhelm our conference, which aims to map the existence, role and significance of animals, with a description of remarkable individual creatures. We are far more interested in capturing the possibilities of research into the existence of animals in large cities in order to create an impulse for more systematic study of this topic.
The problem of every researcher striving for a more systematic assessment of a situation is the noticeable absence of sources with information of this focus. Therefore, our primary interest is in papers that bring knowledge about different types of the source base and which will then explain in an exemplary manner its possibilities on a specific topic. We would also like to look at the issue from an interdisciplinary perspective and we hope that our conference and the resulting anthology become an inspirational guide, a stimulus for the development of research on this hitherto neglected and yet important issue.
Please send Please send offers for papers along with an abstract by 15 April 2021 to the contact address provided below. The organisers reserve the right to make selections among the submitted papers. Presented papers shall be printed in a monothematic volume as part of the Documenta Pragensia series. Foreign participants will be provided accommodations at the expense of the organisers. No conference fees are collected. The conference languages are Czech and German (or English). Simultaneous interpretation from German is provided.
The organisers:
doc. PhDr. Olga Fejtová, Ph.D. prof. PhDr. Martin Holý, Ph.D.
prof. PhDr. Jiří Pešek, CSc. prof. PhDr. Michaela Hrubá, Ph.D.
dr. Agnieszka Chłosta-Sikorska
Contact address:
PhDr. Markéta Růčková, Ph.D.
Archiv hl. města Prahy
Archivní 6
CZ - 149 00 Praha 4
Tel.: 00420 - 236 004 020
E-mail: Marketa.Ruckova@praha.eu
Institutional organisers: The 40th international conference on Urban History held by the Prague City Archives, Institute of History of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Faculty of Humanities of Charles University, Faculty of Arts of J. E. Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem, Institute of History and Archival Studies of Pedagogical University of Cracow and Prague ZOO
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