Bust of Josef Uher in Lomnice

The Bust of Josef Uher in Lomnice honors one of South Moravia's most important writers and teachers from the turn of the 20th century — an author who was the first in Czech literature to portray the lives of itinerant workers, beggars, and homeless children. The monument stands in the town most closely tied to his legacy, though geographic databases sometimes list the neighboring village of Brusná as its location.

Where exactly does the bust stand?

The monument is located in Lomnice, in the Brno-venkov District, within the Podhorácko region on the Hornosvratecká vrchovina highland. The site's coordinates are 49.406471, 16.412519. Right next door lies the village of Brusná, which has been administratively part of the Lomnice municipality since 1996 and sits about 1.5 kilometers from its center. That administrative link explains why some records show Brusná as the bust's location, even though the monument itself stands in Lomnice proper, the town most strongly tied to Josef Uher's life and work.

Who was Josef Uher?

Josef Uher was born on 14 December 1880 in Podolí near Borač, the eldest son of a poor cottager and weaver. He died young, on 5 December 1908 in Brno, at just 27 years old, after a long struggle with tuberculosis that shadowed most of his adult life. During his teacher training in Brno, he had the rare fortune of learning from some of the era's greatest artists: composer Leoš Janáček taught him music, the Mrštík brothers taught him literature, and Max Švabinský taught him drawing. This early exposure to leading creative figures shaped his artistic sensibility, even though Uher himself never achieved wide recognition during his lifetime.

What did he write about?

Uher worked as a schoolteacher in several towns around Brno — in Židenice from 1900, Babice near Rosice from 1901 to 1903, Ostrovačice in 1903, Padochov near Oslavany in 1904, and Vranov near Brno in 1905. Alongside teaching, he wrote prose and poetry, contributing to the periodicals Moravská orlice, Lidové noviny, and Moravskoslezská revue. He became the first Czech writer to take up so-called "bosácká" literature — stories about the lives of the poorest people: tramps, beggars, and parentless, homeless children. His key works include the collection Stín (1901), Kapitoly o lidech kočovných (1905–1906), and Má cesta (1907). His final book, Dětství a jiné povídky, was published posthumously in 1909.

What ties Uher to the Lomnice region?

Although he was born in Podolí and died and was buried in Brno, Josef Uher remained closely bound throughout his life to the Podhorácko countryside around Lomnice and Tišnov — the region whose inhabitants, customs, and everyday hardships he depicted in his prose. It is in Lomnice that his memory is honored most actively: a theater once operated there under his name, and his life and work are featured in exhibits at the regional Podhorácko Museum. The bust in Lomnice is therefore less a marker of his birthplace or death than a tribute paid by the community he made the subject of his stories.

Who created the bust, and when?

The bust of Josef Uher was created by academic sculptor Petr Bortlík and unveiled in 1958. It's worth distinguishing this monument from the writer's other memorials: in Borač, a separate commemorative plaque by sculptor Václav Hynek Mach marks the school building at his birthplace, and at Brno's Central Cemetery stands his honorary grave — a triangular sandstone obelisk with a relief of a grieving female figure, created by sculptor Jan Štursa and unveiled in 1928 as a gift from the Ministry of Education on the occasion of the Exhibition of Contemporary Culture in Czechoslovakia held in Brno.

Frequently asked questions

Who was Josef Uher? A Czech teacher, writer, poet, and journalist (1880–1908), the first representative of so-called "bosácká" literature, who wrote about itinerant workers and the poorest inhabitants of the Brno region.

Why does the bust stand in Lomnice if Uher was born elsewhere? Josef Uher was born in Podolí near Borač and died in Brno, but his writing and legacy are closely tied to the Lomnice and Tišnov region, where a theater once bore his name and where the local community honored him with a monument.

How is Brusná connected to Lomnice? Brusná is a small village of about 70 residents that has been administratively part of the Lomnice municipality since 1996 and lies roughly 1.5 kilometers from its center — which is why it is sometimes mistakenly listed as the bust's location.

Who made the bust, and when was it unveiled? The bust was created by academic sculptor Petr Bortlík and unveiled in 1958.

Where else can Josef Uher's legacy be found? A commemorative plaque by Václav Hynek Mach at his birthplace in Borač, and his honorary grave with a monument by sculptor Jan Štursa at Brno's Central Cemetery.