Karolinum, the Historical Seat of Charles University in Prague

The Prague university has acquired a compound of medieval buildings in the centre of Prague shortly after its foundation in 1348, and it has remained in its possession ever since. It was repeatedly renovated and rebuilt, in the eighteenth century in the Baroque style, in late nineteenth century in the Romantic neo-Gothic style, and further reconstructions took place in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1990s. The buildings, and especially the Great Hall (Aula Magna) are physical witnesses to the university’s antiquity and of its unbroken path through the turmoil of Czech and European history. Over the centuries and for several imagined communities, Carolinum has been an important place of memory (lieux de memoir). It has acquired a symbolic aura, and its history has been commemorated, which contributed to the construction of collective historical memory. But Carolinum can also be viewed as a wounded place, inscribed with memories of painful moments and discriminatory practices that took place over the course of history of both the university specifically and the society at large.