A special chapter of Oriental Studies in Vienna

Before the k.k. Oriental Academy was established as an institution in Vienna, the Viennese had to engage translators from other countries. Of course, proceeding like this, it was not possible to have secrets because these translators were at the same time agents.
Rym von Estbeck, an Austrian, who went to Constantinople in 1569, informed the Court on the disadvantages of using translators from the Ottoman Empire and at the same time underlined the fact that it would be necessary to have Austrians educated as translators. After that, young men were joining the Austrian legation who had to study Ottoman Turkish in Constantinople, and after a short period of time, this system showed fruits as for instance the publishing of the Turkish Grammar „institutiones linguae turcicae libri 4“ which was written by Hieronymus Megiser in 1612. His grammar was printed in Leipzig.

The foreign translators should be replaced by persons from the Habsburg Monarchy who had yet to be trained and especially educated for this job. First steps in this direction were taken by Poland under King Siegmund in 1621: young men were sent to Constantinople in order to study the Ottoman-Turkish language. Jan III. Sobieski, the later king of Poland, who played an important role in the relief battle of Vienna in 1683, was also sent to Constantinopel together with his brother Markus to learn Turkish. Furthermore, the French under Lois XIV, the Sun King, established an institute in 1669/70 and the Austrians under Leopold I in 1674.

A “disadvantage” of this institute in Istanbul from the view of the Austrians was the fact that the school was organised not very well and that the students integrated themselves into the Orient too much, i.e., became alienated from their native country. For this reason, a letter of the court council of war in the name of Maria Theresia of April 20th, 1753 ordered the pupils back; at the same time, the letter said that eight of the language boys should be taught at a school which should be especially founded for them.

Count Kaunitz had presented the suggestion to found an academy to Maria Theresia in 1753. The Jesuit father Josef Franz - an educator of Maria Theresias's son Joseph, the later emperor Joseph II.- became engaged with the draft of the project. The father had spent some time in Constantinopel as a secretary for Anton Count Uhlenfeld and knew Turkish very well. The school should be subordinate to a director and two prefects, examinations should be taken every year.

Maria Theresia agreed and a k.k. resolution was signed on the foundation of the Oriental Academy in September 1753. On January 1, 1754 the academy was opened in the Jacobergasse 3, and father Franz became the first director. The academy aimed at sending its students as officials to the levantine seaports, to appoint them consuls in the boarder provinces, to use them as interpreters in the Orient and to integrate them into the diplomatic service after having had an education lasting five years. At the end of the 18th century, the Austrians could appoint their own officials to all necessary offices thanks to that academy without using the help of foreigners. In the consequence, diplomats from Austria-Hungary had Oriental language skills, here primarily Turkish, up to the year 1918. Of course, this was very beneficial to the relations between Austria and the Ottoman Empire.

The project was drawn by success and many excellent orientalists and diplomats were from the academy. Another highlight arose under director Franz Höck, who had - among other things - worked on the reprint of the dictionary of Franz of Mesgnien of Meninski in 1780 and who also had works of his own. Bernhard of Jenisch (1734-1807), who had been among the first eight students of the k.k. Oriental Academy, led the team working on the reprint of the first volume of Meninski’s dictionary on behalf of empress Maria Theresia. Particularly a student of Höck is worldwide well-known until today's time, this is the doyen of the Oriental Studies, Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall.

When Heinrich Barb was the director of the Oriental Academy, in 1851, a k.k. Public Educational Establishment for Oriental languages was established in Vienna. It was accessible to everyone and its teaching curriculum concentrated on the modern language forms of Arabian, Persian and Ottoman Turkish, approximately corresponded to an interpreting education of today's time. This educational establishment was closed in 1948.



In honor of the orientalist Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall, the Österreichische Orientgesellschaft, which is also known as Hammer-Purgstall-Gesellschaft (HPG) was founded in 1958 in Dominikanerbastei 6, 1010 Vienna, where Middle Eastern languages are taught. On initiative of the HPG, the Orient Academy was founded in 1962. The HPG had an own magazine, a quarterly with the name Bustan (Persian for "garden"), from 1960 to 1971.

(Source: Kerstin TOMENENDAL: Das türkische Gesicht Wiens. Auf den Spuren in Wien. Böhlau Verlag. Wien 2000, p. 63-66.)