300 th anniversary of the birth of Adam František Kollár

€10 silver collector coin

Adam František Kollár (15 April 1718 – 10 July 1783) was a Slovak scholar, polyglot and jurist who served as a councillor at the court of Maria Theresa, the Austro-Hungarian Empress. He was known throughout the Europe of his day as an outstanding figure of intellectual life. After finishing his studies, he began work in 1748 as a scribe at the Imperial-Royal Library in Vienna, where he rose through the ranks to become the library’s director and a court councillor. His achievements at the library included enlarging and cataloguing the institution’s collections, producing a four-volume systematic catalogue of theological texts, and completing and publishing an inventory of codices. He oversaw the establishment of the Imperial Royal Academy of Oriental Languages in 1778. His philosophical and legal opinions contributed to Maria Theresa’s reforms, and he was the monarch’s personal adviser on historical, legal and educational issues in Hungary. He also participated in the planning of educational reforms.