Ukrainian travelers Galagans in the Lands of the Bohemian Crown of the Habsburgs: representation of impressions in travel notes of the mid-19th century

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to study texts written in the middle of the 19th century, during travels in Silesia, Moravia and Czechia by members of the Galagan family, which belonged to the elite of the Ukrainian local nobility, to identify the socio-cultural conditions for the construction and transformation of the images of these regions in the travel narratives of Hryhorii Galagan and his mother Kateryna Galagan. This deepens the understanding of the functioning of communicative mechanisms in the European socio-cultural space of the middle of the 19th century. The methodological basis of the study is the historical and anthropological interpretation of the travel narratives of the Galagans, which makes it possible to characterize travel as an individual experience and as adherence to the socio-cultural norm inherent in the era of Romanticism. The scientific novelty of the article is manifested in the fact that it contributes to an in-depth study of the travel experience of representatives of the Ukrainian nobility of the 19th century. Conclusions. The Galagans' narratives reflect their travel impressions of Silesia, Moravia and the Czechia, which are significant as historical sources. They contain ethnographic descriptions and economic observations. Much attention is paid to historical, cultural and natural monuments. There is valuable evidence of the Czech national movement in a pan-Slavic context. The variety of locations visited by travelers is shown - rural areas, provincial and resort towns, Prague as a political and cultural (Czech-German) center. The Galagans' travelogues show how travel activates the mechanisms of personal sociocultural reflection, comparing "ours" and "others", and thus are a tool for the formation and development of identity.

Keywords

• hryhorii galagan, kateryna galagan, family archive, travelling, travelogue.