Research Centre for the Memory of Buildings, Settlements, and Landscapes at the Department of Architectural Heritage Conservation FA CTU in Prague
The Research Centre for the Memory of Buildings, Settlements, and Landscapes at the Department of Architectural Heritage Conservation, Faculty of Architecture, Czech Technical University in Prague aims, in the spirit of the text of the Preamble to the Constitution of the Czech Republic "We, the citizens of the Czech Republic in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia, ... determined to jointly guard and develop the inherited natural and cultural, material and spiritual wealth...", to develop interdisciplinary and inter-institutional cooperation in the themes of protection of tangible and intangible cultural heritage and landscape, monument care, landscape architecture, urbanism and spatial planning, art history, and other related or otherwise connected fields. The main goals of the centre's activities include the support of teaching in bachelor's, master's, and doctoral study programmes at individual faculties of CTU in Prague and other universities with thematically focused study programmes and subjects (see the section "Description of the proposed implementation method" and "Benefits of the proposed activity for CTU"), as well as the identification, evaluation, and proposal of effective methods for the protection and use of cultural and landscape heritage with the aim of increasing awareness of its values and ensuring its long-term sustainability, institutional support for theoretical thinking about the treatment of immovable cultural heritage – within FA CTU (close cooperation with the Department of Theory and History of Architecture and the Department of Landscape Architecture, etc.), the entire CTU, and on a national/international basis, or communication with the public on issues of monument care, landscape, and cultural heritage in general – inspired by the Dutch model, leading constructive dialogue. In addition, the research centre aims to manage the archive of the Department of Architectural Heritage Conservation FA CTU in Prague and the Department of Theory and History of Architecture FA CTU in Prague with the gradual digitisation of materials stored here with the aim of making physical originals and digital copies accessible to researchers from the academic community of CTU in Prague and the general public. The members of the research centre consist of employees of the Department of Architectural Heritage Conservation FA CTU in Prague and other cooperating departments of FA (Department of Landscape Architecture FA) as well as external collaborators from among doctoral students and academic staff of Czech universities (primarily FSv CTU in Prague, possibly other faculties of CTU interested in some of the addressed issues) and other thematically related institutions.
Team Leader: Ing. arch. Mario Barra
Team Members:
Institutions interested in cooperation (as of April 25, 2025):
- Faculty of Civil Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague
- Faculty of Science, Charles University
- Faculty of Arts, Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem
- Faculty of Science, Palacký University Olomouc
- Faculty of Civil Engineering, Brno University of Technology
- National Heritage Institute, Regional Office in Ústí nad Labem
The offer of external cooperation within the activities of the research center is open to all universities, scientific research entities, and public institutions, both from the Czech Republic and abroad. If interested, please contact the responsible person (Ing. arch. Mario Barra - mario.barra@fa.cvut.cz).
Břetislav Štorm Award
Since 2009, the Department of Architectural Heritage Conservation at the Faculty of Architecture, Czech Technical University in Prague, Tomáš Bistřický, and the Czech National Committee of ICOMOS have organized the competition. The aim is to support students' interest in the field of heritage conservation and to enhance their preparedness for practice in the area of cultural heritage conservation. The competition focuses on recognizing the highest quality conceptual studies and projects by students who carry out their semester, bachelor's, and diploma theses in the studios of the Department of Architectural Heritage Conservation at the Faculty of Architecture, Czech Technical University in Prague.
Report on the results of the Břetislav Štorm Award competition for the year 2024 here.
"The winner of the 16th year of the competition for the Břetislav Štorm Prize is Šimon Kříž with his design for the conservation-restoration of the Petrkov Castle complex. Other awards went to the project for revitalizing the House of Culture in Banská Bystrica and the studio work for the partial restoration of the Jestřábí boudy in the Giant Mountains. Honorable mention was given to the proposal to restore the area of the ČSA coal quarry under the Jezeří Chateau. A novelty of this year's edition was the public prize awarded to the project of a new house in Náchod."
Lecture Series MONUMENTS
The Department of Architectural Heritage Conservation at the Faculty of Architecture, Czech Technical University in Prague organizes a series of thematic lectures every spring and autumn (i.e., in the summer and winter semesters of the given academic year). These lectures introduce topics related to the theory of heritage conservation, building-historical research, current architectural realizations, and many others to members of the academic community of the Faculty of Architecture and interested parties from a wide range of professional and lay public. The lecturers are prominent experts from among the faculty members (primarily from the departments of heritage conservation and theory and history of architecture), state heritage conservation institutions (National Heritage Institute, Office of the President of the Republic, Czech National Committee of ICOMOS, and others), practicing architects, building historians, and many others.
In the summer semester of the academic year 2024/2025, eight lectures will be held on the following dates: March 11, March 18, March 25, April 1, April 8, April 15, April 22, and April 29, always on Tuesdays at 6:00 PM in lecture hall No. 107 'Janák' on the ground floor of the Faculty of Architecture, Czech Technical University in Prague.