Opening hours:
Tuesday - Sunday: 10:00-18:00
Opening hours:
Tuesday - Sunday: 10:00-18:00
The heritage of Fr. Erich von Brandis is of great importance for Travnik and for Bosnia and Herzegovina. The spirit of this great man unites the love for God, man, science and nature. He saw the beauty of God's creation in the natural things he collected and studied. He was born in Betnava near Maribor, surrounded by hills, forests, and water. In his childhood his eyes absorbed this beauty, but similar landscapes won his heart over in the Lašva river valley in Travnik, later on the Vlašić mountain, in Vilenica, and so on. Erich Brandis is the most beautiful link between these two lands, both small, but rich in spirit and with beautiful landscapes.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire (1878) brought Bosnia into the European cultural circle and the religious hierarchy was established. Institutions and schools were built, modeled after European ones, which provided quality education and training. The construction of the Archdiocesan Secundary School began in 1882. At that time it was the largest building in the country. Today, the building is part of the "Petar Barbaric" Catholic School Centre, which is one of the largest Catholic schools in Europe. It is named after a pupil of the Archdiocesan Secundary School, the Blessed Peter Barbaric, who died in 1897. One of his teachers was Erich von Brandis.
Fr. Brandis came to Travnik in 1882, where he gathered the first students for the Secundary School, which opened it's gates in the school year of 1882/83. He spent 30 years there as a professor. He was a demanding teacher, but he also knew how to joke with his students. A memorial book "Travnička spomenica", printed for the 50th anniversary of the school, is full of humorous anecdotes from the life of Father Brandis. He taught natural history, physics, chemistry, mathematics and geography. He often organized excursions and collected natural artifacts. He was skilled in dissecting animals, making herbariums, and used all the scientific methods of his time. He managed to put together a huge natural history collection from objects he collected, but also received as a gift. He did everything by himself, without an assistant, which required great sacrifice.
As a priest he was exemplary. He lived in poverty and humility until his last day. He worked and preached in the glory of the Lord. He didn't mind sleeping on the floor or walking when he could have riden a horse...
Thanks to Erich von Brandis, today we have zoological collections, a lapidary and a palaeontological collection in the Travnik Regional Museum. He also edited one of the largest herbariums with 13,000 plants, 180 of which were recorded for the first time. Brandis' herbarium is kept in the National Museum in Sarajevo.
The National Museum in Sarajevo, as the only adequate space, also houses Rosa Brandis, a rare species of rose from Vlasić. It was named after Erich von Brandis, who discovered and described it in his herbarium.
The grave of Father Erich von Brandis is located at the school cemetery Bojna near Travnik, where other teachers and students of the Archdiocesan school are also buried. Erich von Brandis died on the 3rd of January, 1921.
