Institute of History, CAS

This brochure presents the Institute of History of the Czech Academy of Sciences, one of the 54 public scientific institutions that comprise the CAS. This Prague-based non-university institute with branches in Brno, České Budějovice and Rome has existed nearly a century now – its foundation and activity precede not only today’s Academy, but also the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (founded in 1952). The institute originally founded in order to carry out research into historical sciences changed its name, organisational structure, research focus and publication activity in the course of the 20th century. It came into existence as an independent institution supported by the state shortly after the birth of Czechoslovakia, and although it was exposed to strong political pressures in the 1950s–1980s, it gradually acquired a central position in its discipline, became one of the pillars of the organisation of historical sciences in the Czech lands and fundamentally influenced the construction of their infrastructure.