All You Need To Know About The Course

Bohemia is seen as a magic cauldron formed by a meteorite 1000 million years ago. The secrets of Prague that show and hide many things are unveiled by exploring the sacred geometry of medieval city planning derived from heavenly Jerusalem and from the use of the Christian Kabbalah.

Vyšehrad, or the Upper Castle, is the first seat of the Kings of Bohemia and a seat of legendary Bohemian princes and princesses. We will explore its Slavic history as well as the sites related with Christianisation and formation of the Bohemian state.

Scavenger Hunt

This class is focused on the development of the Prague Castle in the Middle Ages with a special focus on the time of Charles IV., the first king of Bohemia to become the Holy Roman Emperor and on iconographical program of the Cathedral of St. Vitus, Wenceslas and Adalbert.

This class explores cistercian monastic order and spreading of Gothic art and architecture as well as the formation of mendicant orders and the transformation of the society around the year 1300. The class includes an on-site study of an unparalleled collection of Bohemian panel painting and sculpture of the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

Humanism of the 14th century is explored as well as the elegant aristocratic courts around the year 1400 and manuscript illumination. This class takes a look at the crisis in the society and church in this time period that culminated in early church reformation and religious and civil wars.

The society was deeply transformed in the course of the 15th century or “quattrocento” with the rise of the middle class and the first elected kings in the Central Europe. The Jagellonians, kings from a powerful dynasty of Polish-Lithvanian origin that dominated vast territories of Europe inherited the Bohemian and Hungarian crown. These lands passed to the Habsburgs in the 16th century or “cinquecento”. The class explores the introduction of the Renaissance art and architecture in the times of Jagiellonians and Habsburgs and introduces the personality of Rudolph II.

The beginning of the Prague Castle Picture Gallery goes back to the time of Rudolph II. and his famous collections. It contains masterpieces of Hans von Aachen, Peter Paul Rubens, Titian or Guido Reni as well as other masters of Renaissance, Mannerist and Baroque art.

The 16th Schwarzenberg Palace is an exceptional example of Rennaissance architecture. It houses collection of old masters of the National Gallery.

The Strahov monastery, a 12th century royal foundation, underwent major reconstructions in course of 17th and 18th centuries when were also designed Baroque library halls and refectories. The picture gallery displays major artworks ranging from medieval panel paintings to the 19th century romantic vedutas.

This class explores the unique phenomenon of Radical Baroque architecture when the building is conceived as a living organism. The Dienzehofers were inspired by the explorations of the Italian architect Guarino Guarini. Francesco Borromini found a unique central european continuator in Santini that developed the style of “Baroque Gothic architecture”.

The villa of František Bílek, a prominent Czech symbolist sculptor, is a unique and outstanding example of preserved modernist villa that served as both, a studio and a home of the artist. Dating from 1910 and designed by the artist himself, it is the first villa in Prague with flat roof. It is furnished with the original furniture carved by the artist.

Cubism has been quickly and early adopted in Prague, thanks to the personality of Vincenc Kramar, one of the first four Picasso collectors. The lecture explores Kramar's private collection of Picasso’s paintings in the National Gallery in Prague as well as rare examples of cubist architecture. Students will also learn of the deep roots of cubist architecture in local tradition, learning just why it occurred specifically in Prague.

Field trip to the modern and contemporary art collection of the National Gallery in Prague, with a focus on Frantisek Kupka, the pioneer of abstract art.