190. VÝROČIE ZALOŽENIA SPOLKU MILOVNÍKOV REČI A LITERATÚRY SLOVENSKEJ.

In 2024 it will be 190 years since several of the leading figures of national and cultural life in Slovakia came together to establish the Society of Slovak Language and Literature Lovers (Spolok milovníkov reči a literatúry slovenskej). The paper traces the functioning of the society in the various periods that shaped it in many ways. When Ján Kollár and Martin Hamuljak founded it, the aim was to raise awareness of Slovaks’ native language and promote the activity of the Bernolák group and leaders of the so called “Czechoslovak orientation”. One of the most important outcomes of their work was publishing of the Zora almanac from 1835, although its run ceased in 1840 for financial reasons. The society’s activities began to decline in the 1840s and it was wound up in 1850. The society’s activities made an evident contribution to Slovak literary life and laid important foundations for the following generation around Štúr. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]