charity, the 19th century, businessmen, the Habsburg Empire, Klein von Wisenberg

The study deals with one of the forms of public involvement of town businessmen in the era of industrial revolution, namely charity. The study analyses charitable activities of a founding generation of an entrepreneurial family of the Kleins (later Klein von Wisenberg). The author studies the charitable activities in two dissimilar social settings: Loučná Manor bought by the family before serfdom abolishment and the towns of Brno, Prague and Vienna. The study tries to clarify priorities, forms and motives of the 19th century town businessmen?s charitable activities.