INSTITUTE OF ART HISTORY
Celetná 20, 116 42 Prague 1
http://udu.ff.cuni.cz
telephone: +420 221 619 697
e-mail: [email protected]
Major Research Areas
Research at the Institute of Art History revolves around a wide spectrum of topics in art history. In line
with the overall orientation of the Institute, research projects are focused on key themes in art history
relating to the Middle Ages, the modern period and the 19th and 20th centuries. In addition to rigorous
research in works of art, our investigation seeks to cover wider historical, cultural and regional aspects
that place the individual works, personalities and phenomena into the relevant European context.
Profiling Projects
In the last several years, the academic and teaching staff have participated in a number of projects supported by local as well as international grant resources. Initiatives of importance for research in medieval
art include the launch of the Centre for Research in Medieval Art, based at the Convent of St. Agnes
of Bohemia, Prague (under joint administration of the Institute and the National Gallery), followed by
the Centre for Medieval Art, opened by the Institute under a CU FA research project entitled Development of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown in the Context of European and World History. Research
into Baroque art involved an extensive project titled Karel Škréta (1610–1674): His Times and Work,
conducted under partnership between Charles University and the National Gallery and supported with
grants from Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway under the European Economic Area Financial Mechanism.
Czech Baroque Architecture in Central Europe is a research plan focused on an all-embracing investiga107
tion into Czech Baroque architecture, to be concluded with a large monograph published by Karolinum
Press. One of the Institute’s principal recent projects was entitled Art Exchange in the Ore Mountains
region (Krušnohoří) between the Gothic and Renaissance Periods, drawing support from a programme
on applied research and development of the national and cultural identity.
Major Publication Projects
$e Institute’s teachers and Ph.D. students are regular contributors to local and international peerreviewed periodicals on art history. Principal titles produced by members of the Institute in the last
several years include large monographs about St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague, the Master of the Třeboň
Altar, and the first synthetic monograph on Czech Art in 1945–1957. In 2011, the Institute enhanced its
publishing policy by launching the series Studia historiae artium, published under the Acta Universitatis
Carolinae – Philosophica et Historica series and designed to serve as a medium for publishing contributions from our teaching staff as well as outstanding M.A. and Ph.D. theses.
National and International Partner Institutions
Locally, the Institute’s major academic partner is the Institute of Art History of the Academy of Sciences
of the Czech Republic, whose experts serve as supervisors of our Ph.D. students. Internationally, our
Institute has a long tradition of active co-operation with a number of European institutions specializing
in art history. Our closest partners recruit, naturally, from universities based in Austria (Vienna) and Germany (Munich and Berlin in particular) as these countries share a number of research topics with Czech
art history. Active co-operation involves regular exchange at all levels (from bachelor degree students
to doctoral students with a more intense research orientation) as well as hosting leading teachers from
our partner universities.
Major Conferences and Events
Our participation in research programmes implies that the Institute is a regular co-organizer of international conferences and exhibition projects; for instance, the exhibition Charles IV – Emperor by
the Grace of God held in Prague in 2006; a series of conferences (in Nuremberg, Kutná Hora, Lublin)
under a project called Arts at the Royal Court of the Jagiellonian Dynasty, 2001–2005; the conference
titled $e Life of Prague Palaces, held in partnership with the Prague City Archives in 2007; the 2010
conference titled Karel Škréta and 17th century Painting in Bohemia and Europe under the Karel Škréta
(1610–1674): His Times and Work project; the conference entitled Cubism – A Century Later held in
2011, and other initiatives.
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