The collection of butterflies and chrysalis from Jan Patočka is the most extensive and scientifically valuable natural history collection in the Museum of Central Slovakia. In 2025, we commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of its collector, an ethnologist, doc. RNDr. Jan Patočka, DrSc. who devoted his life to research into butterflies that live on forest trees. He disagreed with the use of chemical sprays on forest undergrowth and for this reason, he developed biological methods of pest control and tree protection. When working, he would collect butterflies in their caterpillar and chrysalis states and studied how they parasitise. He brought some of the caterpillars he collected to maturity by feeding them with nourishing plants in his study.
Thanks to his careful study and drawing of determinants, he developed a key for the identification of the chrysalises of Central European butterfly species and became the world’s leading research specialist into the immature stages of butterflies. He dissected both hatched and captured individuals and together with data about their location and the plants they fed on, he gradually created a collection as a result of his life-long research. However, in this collection, there are also specimens obtained from 144 experts who he worked with. That is why the dissected butterflies do not only come from Slovakia and the Czech Republic but also from other countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, America and New Zealand. The collection also includes 76 specimens which were used to describe new butterfly species. The Museum of Central Slovakia acquired the collection over an extended period of time.
In 1957, Jan Patočka donated the first 120 butterflies to the museum; pests and useful species in forestry. When their financial support from the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic was tripled, the Museum, in 1995, went on to acquire more than 25,000 butterflies. Finally in 2009 and 2010, in cooperation with his son, Jan Patočka Jr., they obtained a further 4,000 butterflies and 2,500 vials containing chrysalises.
Renáta Kapustová
