Sigmund Zois Freiherr von Edelstein, usually referred as Sigmund Zois (Žiga Zois () in Slovene) (23 November 1747 – 10 November 1819) was a Carniolan nobleman, natural scientist and patron of the arts. He is considered as one of the most influential figures of the Enlightenment Era in the Slovene Lands of Habsburg Austria.
Contents |
Sigmund's father Michelangelo Zois (1694–1777) was a Lombardian merchant who moved to Ljubljana where he made a considerable fortune in dealing with iron and holding mines. At his second marriage, he married a Carniolan noblewoman, was nobilitated in 1739 and acquired the right to the title of baron in 1760. He owned large estates both in Carniola and on the Kras, and Sigmund was born in Trieste, in one of his father's mansions.
After attending several private schools, Sigmund Zois moved to Reggio in the duchy of Modena where he continued his education. He enjoyed traveling and making new acquaintances. However, his way of life was soon truncated by gout, a disease with which he would be stricken the rest of his life. After returning to Ljubljana to assist in business, he studied natural sciences with Gabriel Gruber and Giuseppe Maffei and inherited his father's wealth in 1777. Leaving the management of his economic entities to his cousin, he developed a strong interest in sciences and started to meet with Baltazar Hacquet, who taught anatomy in Ljubljana from 1773 to 1787, and several Slovene intellectuals of the time.
In the early 1780s, his mansion in Ljubljana became a fostering center for liberal intellectuals at the center of the Slovene enlightenment. Jurij Japelj and Blaž Kumerdej (the two published the Bible in Slovene language), Anton Tomaž Linhart, Valentin Vodnik (from 1793) and Jernej Kopitar (from 1803) were the most prominent members of what became known as the “Zois circle”. Zois was their patron, mentoring them and granting them necessary financial support for their cultural and scientific efforts, thus becoming the central figure of the Slovenian enlightenment. He was a deist and his views were rational and empirical. Nevertheless, he strongly opposed the French revolution and supported the moderate enlightened constitutionalism of Leopold II.
In Ljubljana, Zois initiated and sponsored the construction of roads, the foundation of the botanical garden and a (German) theatre (whose main shareholder he became) and the enlargement of the lyceal library. His great commitment in sciences contrasted in neglecting the needs of the farmers on his estates, who waged surrection in 1783 and were oppressed by Zois' managers. Only after the French Revolution he ordered obligation towards his subjects, fearing for his properties.
From 1797 onwards, Sigmund Zois used a wheelchair and didn't leave his mansion in Ljubljana anymore.
The literary opus of Sigmund Zois, of modest quality and little influence, includes many literary forms and genres, ranging from arias for the opera to lyrics for folk music, although probably only a minor part of his work has been preserved. His translation of the poem Lenore by Gottfried August Burger was regarded as a complete failure, and Zois himself later came to the conclusion that the Slovene language was "too mediocre and rough" to allow for such a literary achievement. He would be disproven only some decades later by France Prešeren who managed to compose a complex and exceptional translation of the same poem. Zois is also regarded as a father of Slovene literary criticism, and most of his literary reviews can be found in his correspondence with Valentin Vodnik.
Zois, who was considered to have been the wealthiest Carniolan of his time, died in Ljubljana. His funeral was attended by a huge crowd; to these days, it has been considered one of the biggest funeral ceremonies ever held in the city, together with Anton Aškerc's funeral in 1912, and Janez Evangelist Krek's funeral in 1917.
Much more important are his achievements in mineralogy, geology, botany, and zoology. His collection of minerals (around 5,000 items) is kept at the Slovenian National Museum in Ljubljana.
In 1795, he mounted two expeditions to explore the land around the Triglav mountain. In 1805, the mineral zoisite was named after him, since Zois was the first to correctly assess that the rock found by Simon Prešern in the Carinthian Alps represented a previously unknown mineral.
Sigmund also supported the work of his brother, the botanist Karl Zois who, among other things, discovered the Campanula zoysii, a previously unknown Carniolan flower.
The most important scientific award in Slovenia, as well as a state-founded scholarship for talented students, are named after him.