The initiative to build a memorial to the body donors has reached its final stage. Construction and restoration work has begun. It should be finished in August.
After several years of mainly administrative efforts and efforts to raise the necessary funds, the construction of the memorial to the body donors has finally begun. In the first days of April, the existing tombstone was dismantled and transported to a stone workshop for restoration, and after the Easter holidays the construction of the grave site into a burial vault will begin. The cremated remains of those who decided to donate their bodies to the Department of Anatomy of the Faculty of Medicine of Masaryk University for the benefit of science and teaching of future - and also existing - doctors will be placed there.
"Donated bodies are cremated in the crematorium after being used for study and research purposes, and if the donor does not wish the ashes to be given to the bereaved, they are scattered on a scattering ground," says Marek Joukal, the department head, in an interview for the magazine 100+1 Zázraky medicíny. With the memorial, the donors will get a place that will be an eternal symbol of their noble decision, but also a dignified place where the bereaved can pay a silent tribute to their loved ones. After all, every year, not only future doctors, but also the faculty's management do so at the commemorative event for the donors of bodies, initiated by Spolek mediků.
The memorial will be created from the grave site of the Bašný family, located in the central part of the Brno Central Cemetery, which the faculty acquired by a symbolic transfer from the Brno Cemetery Administration. The tombstone was declared a cultural monument in 1958 and is still one of the most important tombstones in the entire cemetery. That is also why the National Heritage Institute (NHI) is involved in its transformation. "The tombstone is made of polished porphyry granite and polished black gabbro. Its main motif is an artistically high quality bronze statue created by Jan Laušman, depicting a mourning female figure in a flowing dress, embracing an urn on which she also rests her head. The relatively common composition of the sculpture is based on the aesthetics of neoclassicism with elements of Art Nouveau and represents an important document of artistic craft from the beginning of the twentieth century," says Mgr. Barbora Číhalíková from the National Heritage Institute.
While in the case of ordinary tombstones without monumental protection, such "recycling" of abandoned graves is trouble-free, in the case of a cultural monument, preserving the overall composition of the work and its artistic and craft details, without interfering with the original stonework and material, is essential for its reuse. Thus, the only intervention to the tombstone will be to turn the stone blocks backwards with the inscription side facing backwards to preserve the original inscriptions, while the front view side of the tombstone will be provided with new inscriptions drawing attention to the significance of the site.
"From the point of view of the restorer's work, it will be particularly challenging to carry out aesthetically high-quality controlled patination on the metal sculpture; the method of final patination will affect the colour treatment of the surface and thus the overall expression of the sculptural work. Another problem that the restorer will have to deal with is the statics of the whole object, which will be affected by the construction modifications to the tomb in the underground part," Barbora Číhalíková points out the possible pitfalls. The restoration of the tombstone will be taken care of by MgA. Radka Levínská, and it should be returned to the site in its new form during July. During August, the final works will take place and the actual handover of the building will take place as planned.
Bašný family tomb - Jan, Mimi Luisa, Jan, Luisa. What are the fates behind the four names, two on each side, inscribed on a tombstone with a cross and the dominant figure of a grieving woman?
In recent years, the surname Bašný has been known especially in the world of sport. The founder of the handball dynasty, goalkeeper Jan Bašný (1940-1980), played almost a thousand championship matches in his career and also appeared in the national team, as did his wife Hana. As coach in the 1976/1977 season, he led the women's team of HC Zlín to the championship title. His two sons, Jan and Marek, also followed in his footsteps. For Jan, handball became his destiny when, after his engagement in Slavia Prague in the early 1990s, he travelled to Corsica, where he switched from a player to a coach in the colours of the club from Ajaccio. He returned to the Czech Republic after two decades and was the head coach of the Czech women's handball team from 2010 to 2022. He participated with the team in three World and four European Championships (his greatest achievements include an eighth place at the 2017 World Championships in Germany) and became one of its most successful coaches in history. Two of his sons also played handball.
However, the profession of their ancestors, who in the 1920s had an unmissable grave built in the Brno cemetery, was completely different. Originally from Žernovník near Černá Hora, the family connected their fate with Brno during the second half of the nineteenth century, when Jan Bašný opened a butcher's shop in Old Brno. His son, also Jan, continued in the trade and became one of Brno's best-known butchers at the beginning of the twentieth century. Jan Bašný, married to Aloisie Trávníčková since 1908, had a daughter Aloisie in May 1905, who died prematurely of tuberculosis in April 1924.
Her grieving parents had a tomb erected in her honour in Brno's central cemetery with a bronze figure of a grieving girl resting her head on an urn. Other members of the business family were subsequently buried in the tomb. Jan Bašný invited the Brno-based sculptor Jan Laušman whose studio and stone-sculpture factory became the most prosperous craft enterprise in the city after the First World War, to realise the tombstone. "He produced a number of tombstones for the central cemetery. His style, based on Romanticism and Neoclassicism, was very conservative, but reflected the taste of the wealthier inhabitants of Brno in the first third of the 20th century," adds Barbora Číhalíková from the National Heritage Institute.
New teaching facilities were unveiled at the Department of Health Sciences. The classrooms, located on the third and fifth floors of the F01B1 building, are designed primarily for education in general nursing, but also in other non-physician healthcare professions.
The Department of Public Health, together with students from IFMSA, organized the 6th annual Hand Hygiene Day event on the campus of Masaryk University's Faculty of Medicine. Participants tried out the proper technique for hand disinfection and the use of gloves. This year's event reminded us that even when gloves are used, hand hygiene remains essential for preventing healthcare-associated infections.
