Anton Bernolák

Anton Bernolák produced the first codification of literary Slovak. A grammarian and lexicographer, he spent much of his active life in Nové Zámky. Photographs trace the places where he studied and worked, from his native Slanica to the town where he was buried. His biography appears alongside his work to establish rules of spelling and grammar.

Displayed works include Dizertácia, Grammatica Slavica, Etymológia and part of the Slovár dictionary. Panels also present writing by Juraj Fándly and Ján Hollý and a picture of the founders of Slovenské učené tovarišstvo. A photograph of the dictionary's six volumes conveys the scale of the publication.

Manuscripts, correspondence envelopes and deanery maps reveal his clerical duties. Before its division in 1804, the deanery contained more than twenty parishes with dependent churches. Bernolák remained administrator of the lower division, based in Nové Zámky. A personal possession is a walnut chest of drawers, bequeathed in 1809 to Apolónia, his sister's granddaughter. Jozef Mesiarkin located it with Mária Vaneková in Dolný Kubín; she donated it to the museum.