Josef Kalasanz von Erberg

Who is Josef Kalasanz von Erberg?

Josef Kalasanz Freiherr von Erberg was a Carniolan botanist, cultural historian, collector, and patron of the arts.

Von Erberg was born in Ljubljana. After graduating from mathematics, logics, philosophy, and administrative law, he was at first a board councillor at the Carniolan Provincial Estates. In 1794, he married Josephine, Gräfin von Attems. They had seven children. In 1804, he became a chamberlain at the Austrian Court, and was from 1809 until 1814 the educator of the young Ferdinand I of Austria. In 1815, von Erberg moved to Dol pri Ljubljani, where he intensively collected books and numerous other cultural and natural objects from Carniola and also created a garden with over 7000 plants. He was a friend of Sigmund Zois and corresponded also with other Carniolan scientists and artists. Until the end of his life, he only rarely left Dol. In 1832, he hired Franz Franz, an officer, to inform him about events in Vienna and in Ljubljana. In the following eight years, Franz sent him about 1800 letters, which have been preserved until today and give an insight in the history of Ljubljana before the 1848 revolutions.