DURYCH, VÁCLAV FORTUNAT. – Minim religious, born in Turnov (Bohemia) on 28 September 1735, died there in 1802. A Bohemian man of letters, lecturer in theology and Oriental languages, he enhanced through his learning the convents of his Order in Vienna, Munich, and Prague. At the prompting of Maria Theresa, he was commissioned by Archbishop Puchowsky, together with Fr. Procházka, of the same Order, to translate the Bible into the Czech language.
His principal work is the Bibliotheca Slavica antiquissimae dialecti communis et ecclesiasticae universae Slavoniae gentis (vol. I, Vienna 1795), which in the author’s conception was to be 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.