Centre of Epigraphic and Sepulchral Studies

The centre's tasks include research, development of methodology, documentation and coordination activities in the closely connected disciplines of sepulchral studies and medieval and early-modern Latin epigraphy as “auxiliary sciences” of art history, in correspondence with one of the institute's priorities. The centre was established in 2005 based on previously amassed epigraphic documentation. It organizes annual interdisciplinary conferences about sepulchral monuments and publishes the series Epigraphica et Sepulcralia. Fórum epigrafických a sepulkrálních studií and Epigraphica et Sepulcralia – monographica. The centre's members teach epigraphy at the Faculty of Arts at Charles University and the Faculty of Arts at the University of South Bohemia. The centre is also active in the field of applied research and heritage conservation (Epigraphy in Heritage Protection, certified methodology of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic) and participates in outreach activities. The professional public can make use of the centre's library of specialized literature and other resources.

The centre currently focuses on its most important tasks: the epigraphic database (Strategy AV21), collaboration on the grant project Monumenta mortis et memoriae. Sepulkrální skulptura ve výtvarném umění českého středověku (GA ČR) and the institutional project Katalog nejstaršího českého epigrafického fondu. It also participates in the project Gotické a raně renesanční umění ve východních Čechách. Výzkum, interpretace, prezentace (Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, NAKI II). The centre concluded its joint project with the Department of Archival Administration and Records Management at the Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic, Soupis sekundárních pramenů k epigrafickým a sepulkrálním památkám, uložených v archivech ČR (2011–2019) [Catalogue of Secondary Sources for Epigraphic and Sepulchral Monuments, Held in Czech Archives (2011–2019)]; the resulting publication is forthcoming (2019).

Other recent outcomes include Epigraphica et Sepulcralia 8. Prague 2019 (Jiří Roháček), the 17th conference on sepulchral monuments. Prague  2018 (Jiří Roháček) and the publication of the first version of the epigraphic database 2019 (Jiří Roháček, David Vrána).

The centre collaborates with a number of institutions in both the Czech Republic and abroad (Faculty of Art at Charles University, Epigraphisches Forschungs- und Dokumentationszentrum der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, the project Corpus inscriptionum Slovaciae of Komenský University in Bratislava, and others)