CHARLES UNIVERSITY

There was no such thing as a campus; students of the four faculties heard their lectures in monasteries and churches, the biggest buildings of the time. Only in 1383 did Wenceslas IV present the Collegium Carolinum with the Gothic house of Johlin Rothlev, master of the Mint. After the Baroque redesigning of the façade by František M. Kaňka (1718), the impressive Great Hall on the first floor was rebuilt. The wall hanging entitled Charles IV kneeling before St Wenceslas (1947) is by Václav Sychra.

The ceiling panels showing the coats of arms of the Bohemian lands, are not only decorative, but serve also to improve the acoustics of the hall. The many-shaded stones in the façade of the Carolinum have been added in the course of decades of renovation work, documenting the old and new fabric of the building.