Juraj Sklenár was a Slovak historian, pedagogue and Catholic priest.
Life
He was born in Tiba, a manor-house near Levoča. Sklenár entered the Jesuits as a novice in 1764 and become a doctor of philosophy. He worked in Levoča, Trnava, Prešov and Košice. After the abolition of the Jesuit order, he worked as a professor of rhetoric and deputy director at main royal grammar school in Pressburg. A part of Sklenár's works are Latin odes and occasional speeches related to his pedagogic position. In the 1770s, he already become more known among scientists. In the Geographic Lexicon of the Kingdom of Hungary he is mentioned as the pride of Pressburg. Sklenár, together with Juraj Papánek, Juraj Fándly and Samuel Timon created the first scientific works about the earliest history of Slovaks. Slovak enlightenment historians already paid attention to Great Moravia and the mission of Saints Cyril and Methodius, but did not adopt yet a deciding position. In 1784, Sklenár published his most important work Vetustissimus magnae Moraviae situs et primus in eam Hungarorum ingressus et incursus, geographice, historice, critice descriptus. He tried to separate the history of Great Moravia from the Slovak history and proposed the location of its center to Sremska Mitrovica. According to Richard Marsina, regardless of this mistake, Sklenár belonged among most qualified and most critical historians of Bernolák's generations.
Works
Synchronisticon Josepho e com. Battyány S. R. I. principi et primato Hungariae
Raroria naturae monumenta in Ungaria occurentia
Origo er genealogia Illustris Battyaniorum Gentis
Vetustissimus magnae Moraviae situs et primus in eam Hungarorum ingressus et incursus, geographice, historice, critice descriptus
Hypercriticon examinis vetustissimi m. Moraviae situs et vindiciarum anonymi Belae regis scribae
Onomasticon honoribus Mariae Theresiae
Oratio inaug. Occasione instauratarum Posonii litterarum
Onomasticon honoribus M. Theresiae Aug. Hung. Reginae
Oratio inaug. in Regio Posoniensi Gymnasio habita 1777.
Ode in adventum Clementis AA. et Electoris Trevirensis
Ode in reditum Josephi II. Parisiis
Ode in reditum com. Francisci Balassa e commissione regia
Oratio quam pro die 13. Maji 1780. dum sub praesidio comitis Balassa reg. Tallosiense orphanotrophium Szemptzini collocaretur adornavit
Laudatio funebris in exequiis Antonii Mancini professoris Posoniensis. U. ott, 1783.
Georgii Papanek compendiata historia gentis Slavae, per Georgium Fándy cum notis G. Szklenar. Tyrnaviae, 1793.
