Jan Sobotka died

The funeral mass will take place on Tuesday, January 3, 2023 in the church at St. Wenceslas in Smíchov at 3:00 p.m.

Exhibition Kartografie v časech mezi poustevnami a koněspřežkou

Jan Sobotka was born on April 11, 1959 in Prague, graduated from the Secondary School of Graphics. From October 1, 1979 he started working at the National Library of the Czech Republic in the Services and Special Departments Sector, specifically in the Department of Storage and Revision of Library Collections. In 1987, he completed his studies at the Department of Librarianship and Scientific Information at the Faculty of Philosophy of Charles University. Also here, in 1989, he received the title of PhDr. In the years 1993 to 1995, he was the head of the audit department. Between 1993 and 1995, he briefly interrupted his work at the National Library and worked as an editor for Rock & Pop magazine. In 1996, he returned to the National Library, to the department of manuscripts and old prints, where he worked on the collection of historical maps. He became a very erudite connoisseur of printed and manuscript maps and the history of cartography, rare militaria and the history of fortifications. He published studies in this field in a number of professional periodicals and created remarkable exhibitions. In 2015, he was appointed head of the department of the Central Depository Library and focused on retrospective replenishment of library collections.

In addition to his library career, Jan Sobotka was also an important music columnist. He wrote for music magazines since 1990, was the editor of Rock & Pop, and also published in Harmonie magazine and UNI magazine. He was an important blues and folk researcher, dylanologist, his bibliography includes more than 200 professional contributions and reviews. In addition, he was also an active musician. He mainly played country blues, ballads and spirituals with his band Broken Harp. He performed at a number of festivals, for example in Radostice, Valašský Špalíček, Otevreno, the Ondřejov festival, Šumper's Blues Alive and Zimmerman Frei dylanological gatherings.

Zdroj: Národní knihovna ČR