The Moravian Museum, the second biggest-ranking museum by size in the Czech Republic, was founded in July 1817 by a decree of Emperor Francis I. At its cradle stood such men as Christian Karl André (Moravian economist, enlightener, agriculture specialist, journalist, secretary of the Moravian-Silesian Society for Development of Agriculture, Natural Sciences and Local History), Count Josef Auersperg (1767-1829, lawyer, graduate from Charles University in Prague, enlightener, important representative of the Moravian intelligence, supporter of the Moravian-Silesian Society for the Development of Agriculture, Natural Sciences and Local History), Antonín Bedřich Mitrovský (1770-1842, lawyer, graduate from Theresian Knight’s Academy in Vienna, state officer, governor of Moravia between 1815-1827, supported the efforts to found a museum in Brno and thanks to him the museum acquired its first building: the so called Bishop’s Courtyard in Brno), Count Hugo-František Salm-Reifferscheidt (1776-1836, enlightener, entrepreneur in mining, metallurgy, and in agriculture, director of the Moravian-Silesian Society for the Development of Agriculture, Natural Sciences and Local History; he gifted the museum with collections of natural history and art).