Museum in Frenštát pod Radhoštěm

Museum of Nový Jičín, p.o.

From the second half of the 19th century, the difficult economic situation and efforts to free oneself from the yoke of the Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy led to mass emigration, paricularly to the United States of America. Emigrants from a number of Valachian and Lachian communities, but mostly from Frenštát, settled in Texas. The Czech origin of 750 thousand inhabitants of Texas and the names of many towns, for example, Frenstat, Frydek, Vsetin and Roznov are a reminder of this fact.

The exposition presents this theme above all from the area of the former Frenštát judicial circuit, from Valachia and Lachia. Mainly photographs and archive material are on display.

Further, three-dimensional material – the flag of the state of Texas, weapons, household furnishings, farming implements, cooking utensils, ship suitcases, a model of the schooner Anna Elis, a farm waggon and other objects that were obtained from Texas.

In the introductory part of the exposition, there are weaver’s implements, shoe-maker, carpenter, and cabinet-maker tools, implements for working in the forest and on the field which indicate the original occupation of the emigrants.