The making of “classical” Karst: Habsburg “cultivation” projects, (inter)nationalism, and the emergence of Karst sciences, 1860–1914

This paper examines large-scale afforestation and cultivation projects undertaken at the end of the nineteenth century in partnership between the Habsburg imperial administration, scientific institutions, and forestry authorities in the Dinaric Karst, a barren rocky landscape stretching along the Adriatic coast from Slovenia to the Ionian Islands. It offers novel insights into the interplay of geoscientific research, power-political and “civilizational” claims on the Balkans, and the internationalization of the term “karst”, originally the name of a limestone plateau east of Trieste, as a universal model for comparing phenomena in soluble rocks. These reforestation projects were preceded by early ecological studies on vegetation, climate, and hydrology by the naturalist and ministry official Joseph Lorenz von Liburnau (1825–1911), who described the Dinaric Karst as an environment threatened by (historical) overexploitation and water scarcity. Later, Jovan Cvijić’s work Das Karstphänomen (1893) systematized karst geomorphology and reframed the Dinaric landscape as an object of global scientific relevance, while simultaneously linking it to emerging national identities within and beyond the Habsburg context. 

Behind the resulting cross-regional efforts to transform entire karst landscapes from their “neglected state” to a “more humane” one were not only economic considerations, but also stereotypical images of the Balkans as the “European Orient”, embodying Habsburg policymakers’ idea of the monarchy as a “cultural state” and its civilizing mission towards the “East”. My paper argues for a critical reassessment of this nexus of bodies and landscape in the Dinaric Karst and the emergence of karst knowledge, paying more attention to geopolitics and public engagement in research.

DR. JOHANNES MATTES

Johannes Mattes is a historian of knowledge, science, and technology in Central and Eastern Europe from the 18th to the 20th century, with a particular focus on global entanglements. He has held prestigious fellowships (Marie Curie, Humboldt) and visiting positions in Edinburgh, Leipzig, Oslo, Paris, Stanford, and Toronto. He currently leads a research project at the Institute of Culture Studies of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. His forthcoming monograph examines collaborative research in imperial Vienna (1850–1925), exploring the intersections of science, politics, and public engagement. He has received several awards, including the Bader Prize for the History of Natural Sciences and the University of Vienna’s Excellence in Teaching Award (2022). He also serves as Secretary General of the International Union of Speleology (UIS), based at the Karst Research Institute – ZRC SAZU.

Thursday, June 12, 2025, at 1:00 PM
Dvorana štirih letnih časov ZRC SAZU, Novi trg 4, 2nd floor, Ljubljana.

The lecture will be in English.

WARLY INVITED!

More about the seminar: hs.zrc-sazu.si.