Obraz przewodnika górskiego w literaturze romantycznej. Część I

The intensive development of tourism in the 19th century significantly contributed to the emergence of the guide’s profession. In earlier centuries, this feat was practiced by random people, often unqualified, but with time they became indispensable companions and patrons of tourists. Special qualities were required from mountain guides who, when introducing people to the mountains, had to show special qualities: responsibility, good knowledge of the topography of a given area, care, specific knowledge, as well as good physical condition. The job was professionalized the earliest in the Alps, but the process took place more or less at the same time in other European mountains, for example in the Karkonosze Mountains. It was much more difficult to hire an experienced guide in the Carpathians, where the leadership developed much later. Travel literature of the nineteenth century brought numerous accounts describing the relationship between the guide and the tourist as well as providing numerous realistic descriptions of the first to “hike in the mountains”. Due to the factual nature of this travel literature (diaries, memoirs, etc.), the pioneers of the leadership remained anonymous and found their place in the history of tourism and mountain climbing. This article omits the subject of Tatra guides, which will be the subject of a separate study.