Prague: University Town – Petráňová Lydia (2018)

Prague has been a centre of university education for almost seven centuries. On 7 April 1348, the Czech king and future Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV founded the first institution of higher education north of the Alps and east of the Rhine in his seat of government. Charles University lost its privileged position in Central Europe after universities were established in neighbouring countries, and from the second half of the sixteenth century it faced competition in Prague from the Jesuit Academy in the Clementinum, until their merger in 1654. The need for education in technical and agricultural fields led to the establishment of an engineering school in 1718, later transformed into a polytechnic and eventually the Czech Technical University. At the very end of the eighteenth century, the foundations of an academy of fine arts were laid in Prague, later joined by the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design. The other public universities in Prague were founded after the Second World War: the Academy of Performing Arts in 1945, the Czech University of Life Sciences in 1952, the University of Chemistry and Technology in 1952, and the Prague University of Economics and Business in 1953. Their number increased in 1993 with the Police Academy. Josef and Lydia Petráň guide readers through the history and geography of Prague’s universities while commenting on academic life intertwined with the culture and social affairs of the Czech capital. The contents are in English.