However, they only ended up in the Naprstek Museum in 1921 when an extensive collection of so-called foreign ethnography was transferred from the Regional Museum (now the National Museum). One of the earliest groups of exhibits in the Museum in its early period of operation consisted of items obtained from Julius Zeyer – a well-known Czech prose writer, playwright, and poet.
He traveled to many countries and was a mentor and companion to several aristocratic families in Russia (in 1873 and 1880–1881). Julius Zeyer enriched the Central Asian collection with three items – a pair of shoes, a Nurata embroidery suzani, and a prayer rug joi namaz.
In 1883, the Museum received a set of 24 items from Emanuel Meergans – an engineer who worked in Russia. These were mainly items from Margilan: silver jewelry, clothing and footwear, writing supplies, bookmarks, and wallets. Not all items from this set have been preserved. Four of them were returned to E. Meergans' sister, Mrs. Mandrova, as early as 1892, and another four items were removed from the collection in the 1960s. The fate of the remaining items, such as three pairs of shoes, two pieces of women's clothing, and paper bookmarks, is unknown.
You can learn more about the topic in the book-album "The Collection of the Czech Republic" (Volume XVI) in the series "Cultural Legacy of Uzbekistan in the World Collections".
The main sponsor of the project is the oilfield services company Eriell-Group.
