The Etnografický atlas Slovenska, published in 1990, is a comprehensive cartographic and ethnographic work dedicated to documenting the traditional culture and way of life of the Slovak population and the nationalities residing in Slovakia. It represents the culmination of a long-term interdisciplinary effort between ethnographers and cartographers, aiming to visualize and interpret selected elements of folk culture through a scientifically grounded mapping methodology.
The core of the atlas is based on direct field research carried out between 1971 and 1975 across 250 carefully selected localities in Slovakia. These were chosen to reflect a balanced distribution across the entire territory, including 189 Slovak, 37 Hungarian, 17 Ruthenian-Ukrainian, 4 Goral, and 3 former German communities. The fieldwork followed a unified ethnographic questionnaire designed to capture data on 170 selected topics representing various domains of folk life: work, housing, food, rituals, customs, oral traditions, music, and material culture. The guiding principle of this data collection effort was to enable subsequent cartographic visualization—meaning that the information had to be geographically specific and socially contextualized within clear time frames.
The research yielded nearly 500,000 catalogued data cards, 20,000 black-and-white photographs, 4,000 color slides, and 1,000 hand-drawn sketches. These materials were processed in three phases: first, the documentation and classification of raw data; second, the generation of approximately 2,400 maps through statistical and cartographic interpretation; and third, the selection and final compilation of 535 maps and 42 graphs that comprise the published atlas. Each map is accompanied by schematic drawings, musical or folkloric samples, and explanatory texts, which give further depth and clarity to the visual representation.
The data used in the atlas do not only originate from direct fieldwork. Researchers cross-referenced field findings with existing ethnographic literature, archival materials, museum collections, and monographic studies on individual Slovak localities. In cases where the living memory of informants did not extend far enough back, the team used documented objects or historical sources to extrapolate past practices. For topics like trades, fairs, and transportation—where detailed individual memory might be lacking—statistical data, especially from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, supplemented the ethnographic material.
The cartographic representation of cultural elements in the atlas is technically sophisticated. It employs point symbols, area fills, isopleths, cartograms, and cartodiagrams to express both qualitative and quantitative aspects of folk culture. Thematic content is rendered at various scales, with the most frequent being 1:2,000,000. Great care was taken in the visual clarity and interpretative cohesion of maps, including the use of a consistent color scheme per thematic category and legible typographic conventions. Importantly, blank areas on the maps are meaningful—they indicate absence, lack of data, or unconfirmed phenomena, rather than simply being left unstudied.
The atlas is organized into six thematic groups, subdivided into 20 chapters and 86 subchapters. These cover aspects such as material culture (e.g., house types, tools), social life (e.g., rituals, festivals), and expressive forms (e.g., dialects, songs). In addition to the cartographic section, the atlas includes textual commentaries that help interpret the visual information without aiming to offer complete thematic monographs. These texts situate the maps within broader historical and ethnological narratives and often address regional variants, linguistic forms, and terminological specificity.
One of the unique features of the Etnografický atlas Slovenska is its attention to regional nomenclature. It includes maps that reflect dialectological variants of terminology related to material and social culture. The editors adopted a phonetic transcription method that preserved the regional structure of terms without focusing on phonetic minutiae. This contributes to a better understanding of cultural diffusion, local specificity, and linguistic richness across the territory.
The atlas also stands out for its multilingual presentation. Map titles, legends, and some textual elements are translated into Russian and German, and an English-language appendix was prepared for broader international accessibility. This was intended to make the atlas usable for comparative ethnographic studies across Central Europe and beyond.
In conclusion, the Etnografický atlas Slovenska is an extraordinary achievement in documenting, analyzing, and visually communicating the cultural life of Slovak and minority populations over a period of more than a century. It demonstrates the potential of ethnographic cartography to synthesize vast quantities of cultural data into an accessible, comparative, and interpretive format. Its methodological rigor, multidisciplinary cooperation, and reliance on both field data and collective memory make it not only a scientific milestone, but also a vivid cultural document with enduring value. The atlas is an indispensable resource for ethnographers, historians, educators, and all those interested in the tangible and intangible heritage of Slovakia.
