Peter Pavel Glavar | |
---|---|
Born | 2 May 1721 |
Died | 24 January 1784 |
Occupation(s) |
Roman Catholic priest beekeeper writer businessman |
Peter Pavel Glavar (2 May 1721 – 24 January 1784) was a Carniolan Roman Catholic priest, beekeeper, writer, and businessman.
Glavar was born in Ljubljana and was an illegitimate and abandoned child of the Maltese noble Pietro Giacomo de Testaferrata and of a local servant. [1] [2] He was raised in Vopovlje in northern Carniola. [1] As he was a quick learner, he went to study for a priest to Ljubljana and about 1738 to Graz, where he became a master of liberal arts ( Latin: magister artium liberalium). [2] There he also got acquainted with economic theories of French physiocrats. His education was wide and he was fluent in several European languages. [1]
Glavar returned to Carniola around 1743. [2] He settled in Komenda in northern Carniola, where he established a school in 1751, and erected a benefice building with a library in 1752. [3] The library still stands and comprises around 2,000 books from a multitude of fields of science and arts. [1] [3] A mighty lime tree in Komenda was presumably planted by Glavar in 1748 and has been named after him. [4] Glavar collaborated with artists and ordered Franc Jelovšek to paint the beneficiary house and the local church. [3] From 1754 until 1760, [5] he edited the first Slovene-language parish family book, writing the data about the inhabitants of Komenda. [1] In 1761–66, he erected the High-Baroque St. Anne's Church in Tunjice. [6]
In 1766, Glavar bought Lanšprež Castle ( German: Landspreis) in Gomila near Mirna in the central Carniola, [2] where he kept an apiary with about 200 quite profitable hives. [1] He also established a beekeeping school there and wrote several texts on beekeeping, including Pogovor o čebelnih rojih (Discussion About Bee Swarms) from 1776–78, which was the first Slovene-language scholarly text, but was lost and was published only in 1976. [7] He was a supporter of poor students. [1] He died at Lanšprež Castle aged 62 years. His assets were distributed among the poor and used for the establishment of Glavar Hospital in Komenda in 1804. [1]
In 2006, a TV-documentary was produced about Peter Pavel Glavar. [3]