Exhibition on the 20th anniversary of the study programme Chemistry and Technology of Materials for Conservation-Restoration at the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University

In 2025, the Department of Chemistry at the Faculty of Science of Masaryk University will commemorate 20 years since the establishment of the unique study programme Chemistry and Technology of Materials for Conservation-Restoration in Brno.

                           

In 2003, under the leadership of prof. RNDr. Jiří Příhoda, CSc. The first students of this programme started their studies in the academic year 2004/2005. In 2007, the study was expanded to include a follow-up Master’s degree. Prof. Jiří Příhoda was the head of this study programme until 2023, when the new guarantor of the programme was appointed doc. Mgr. Karel Novotný, Ph.D. In the 20 years of the programme’s existence, 93 graduates have successfully completed their studies at the Bachelor’s degree level and 61 students/graduates at the Master’s degree level.

The study programme Chemistry and Technology of Materials for Conservation-Restoration is a unique interdisciplinary field of study at the Department of Chemistry of the Faculty of Science of the Masaryk University, which has established itself since its inception as a key for the education of professionals in the field of cultural heritage conservation. The CKR emphasizes the combination of several key disciplines: chemistry, material sciences, basic physics and art history with the fundamentals of restoration techniques. The aim of the programme is to provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary for the conservation and restoration of cultural heritage, which includes not only material research, the study of degradation processes, the actual conservation and restoration intervention, but also the prevention necessary for their long-term protection from damage.

The exhibition, which is open to the general public, is a great opportunity for visitors, current and future students, to learn about how scientific approaches intersect with the arts and how knowledge of materials, chemistry and current modern technology can contribute to the preservation of our cultural heritage.

The exhibition on the 20th anniversary of the CKR, which takes place in the premises of the university campus in Brno Bohunice (in the corridor on the 2nd floor between halls C12 and C10), offers not only a look at the history of this field, but also at its current development and future challenges. It features not only examples of the work of students and graduates who are engaged in the restoration and preservation of valuable historical materials, but also their responses to the study of this interdisciplinary study programme. The exhibition will be open in these spaces until the end of April, after which it will be on display again on the Kotlářská campus.