DURCH, Václav Fortunat. - Minim friar, born at Turnov (Bohemia) on 28 Sept. 1735, died there in 1802. A Bohemian scholar, reader in theology and Oriental languages, he enriched with his learning the convents of his Order in Vienna, Munich, and Prague. At the instigation of Maria Theresa, he was entrusted by Archbishop Puchowsky, together with Fr. Procházka of the same Order, with the task of translating the Bible into Czech.
His principal work is the Bibliotheca Slavica antiquissimae dialecti communis et ecclesiasticae universae Slavoniae gentis (vol. I, Vienna 1795), which in the author’s intention was to serve as an encyclopedia of Slavic archaeology. He is regarded as one of the great initiators of the literary renaissance. He occupies a notable place in the field of Slavic studies.