Blasius Kozenn

Blasius Kozenn (Slovenian: Blaz Kocen; born 24 January 1821 in Hotunje, Lower Styria, † May 29 1871 in Hernals in Vienna) was a pioneering old Austrian cartographer Slovene mother tongue.

With the name Kozenn connect generations of former students in the Austro -Hungarian Empire, the first and to date still the Second Republic, the memory of her geography school atlas. The Kozenn Atlas appears after Kozenns death of the leading Schulgeografen Austria processed, still for more than 150 years in two dozen languages ​​in the millions.

Life

Blasius Kozenn was in the small village Hotunje ( Schlindorf ) near Ponikva ( Ponigl ) at Cilli in the former Lower Styria (now Lower Styria in Slovenia) was born as the son of Slovenian small farmers. There is now a set up by the Association of Slovenian geographer small museum. After attending elementary school in Kozenns Ponikva reached his teacher there that the talented youngster was taken in the gymnasium of Cilli / Celje. In Graz he finished his high school years and then studied in Klagenfurt, Carinthia Duchy, theology. In 1845 he was ordained a priest.

From 1850 to 1852 he had as Supplent ( teaching assistant ) a job at the school in Celje. From there he went to Vienna, where he studied at the University of mathematics, physics and natural history, and passed his teaching examination in these subjects with distinction. In 1854 he was transferred to the civil service and taught at high schools, first in Ljubljana / Ljubljana, then capital of the Duchy of Carniola, and from 1855 to 1858 in Gorizia / Gorizia in the Austrian Littoral. Here he wrote the basic principles of geography for the first class of the Central and Civil Schools ( first appeared in 1858 in Pest and Vienna, among middle schools high schools and other educational institutions to understand citizens' schools were the names of other schools in the 10 - to 14 -year-olds ) and the study climate of Gorizia. In 1858 he came to the led in German Language kk State upper secondary school in Olomouc / Olomouc in Moravia, where he remained until his early retirement in 1870. Also at the launch of the junior high school, a new form of high school, he worked with and was in 1863 appointed to the Board of Education.

From Olomouc he moved due to his failing health in the contemporary Viennese suburb Hernals, where he died of typhoid fever on 29 May 1871 aged 50 years.

School Atlas

In Olomouc Kozenn learned the bookseller and publisher Eduard Hölzel know who could win him the plan to make a hitherto not yet existing Austrian school atlas, which was finally published in 1861 by Hölzel's move to Vienna. Kozenn was more practical as a scientist and did in light of the extensive responsibilities in an Atlas redesign, which he had to solve almost all themselves, pioneering work.

He had, as he wrote in 1861, used mainly the cards of that great German hand atlas of Stieler and Kiepert as sources for his card designs. However, he also did not hesitate to copy those from the German school atlases of the time directly and only slightly modify.

Back in 1900 could be measured both in terms of content as well as cartographic and technical terms to the best foreign products still called Kozenn atlases complete rewritings of Vincent de Haardt, Friedrich Umlauft, Wilhelm Schmidt and Franz Heiderich. The successes of the publisher Hölzel who then encouraged other publishers of the monarchy to bring out modern school atlases. In the commercial competition, they developed better and better Atlas editions, in which increasingly appear also thematic maps. Later editors were Henry Güttenberger, Hermann conductor Hans Slanar (senior ) and Walter Strzygowski ( 1956 ), Hans Slanar ( jun ), Wigand Ritter, Lukas Birsak.

Kozenn was self-taught. In Scripture, " Geographical teaching aid " (In: Annual Report of the Imperial College to Olomouc 1861, pp. 1-20 ), he described his Atlas concept. Since he was not a member he Geographical Society in Vienna, is found in their messages neither a eulogy nor an appreciation of his cards work. He was a hard worker, who also created numerous school wall maps.