The ceremonial event marking the beginning of INSTITUTIO DIDACTICA CAROLINA’s activity was attended by representatives from the fields of science, culture, politics, and business.

The newly established European institute of Charles IV, Institutio Didactica Carolina, recently marked the official beginning of its activity with the ceremonial event at Kaiserštejnský palác at Malostranské náměstí in Prague. The institute has thus contributed to the nationwide celebrations of Charles IV’s birth in a particularly original way, since up to this point there has never been an institution dedicated to the Father of the Homeland and winner of the Greatest Czech poll in either the Czech Republic or the rest of Europe.

Hosted by the founder of ID Carolina, PhDr. Jan Vaculík, the event was attended by Central Bohemian Region’s councilor Ing. Zdeněk Štefek, who came to express his support. He was filling in for the Central Bohemian Region’s mayor, Ing. Miloš Petera, who has taken the whole ID Carolina project under his wing.

Members of the institute’s board of directors and its contributors gave a short speech. In his performance, delivered in Czech, Dr. Werner Jakobsmeier from Münich humorously described Charles IV’s language expertise while exploring the topic of language-learning. Plk. prof. MUDr. Vladimír Beneš, DrSc., head of the Neurosurgical Clinic ÚVN Praha, spoke about Charles IV’s mysterious injury, while JUDr. Ján Šikuta, judge of the Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic, described Charles IV as a lawmaker, and prof. PhDr. Eva Semotanová, DrSc., director of the Institute of History of the Czech Academy of Sciences, talked about Charles IV’s life from his birth all the way to the legacy he left behind. The band Quercus represented the field of art at the event with their performances of worldly medieval songs sung and played in contemporary attire. And finally, there was time for celebratory refreshments to finish the night.

Ing. Václav Votava, head of the Committee on the Budget of the Chamber of Deputies, Mgr. Jiří Mihola, Ph.D., head of the Club of Deputies of the KDU-ČSL party, deputies Klaška and Uhlík, senator Kratochvíle, chief of the SSHR Pavel Švagr, as well as vice-minister Blecha of the Ministry of Regional Development could all be seen at the event, among others. Other members of ID Carolina’s board of directors who were unable to attend the event in person sent their regards: Ing. Jaroslav Hanák, president of the SP ČR, Ing. Jan Mládek, Minister of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic, CEO of Czech Television Ing. Petr Dvořák, media businessman Michel Fleischmann, Hynek Kmoníček, Director of the Foreign Affairs Department of the Office of the President, and JUDr. Aleš Pejchal, who represents the Czech Republic in Strassbourg as a judge of the European Court of Human Rights.

PhDr. Jan Vaculík, founder of ID Carolina, mentioned the fact that the institute’s headquarters, a farmhouse in the Central Bohemian village of Kuchař which lies on the historical road Via Carolina between Prague and the Karlštejn castle, was declared a historic landmark in the beginning of this year.

“IDC does not seek to serve as a substitute for scientific institutions. Instead its goals lie mainly in familiarizing Europe’s youth with the figure of Charles IV and unification of views on Charles IV in history, so that one day we may have a single image of him in every textbook across Europe,” says IDC’s founder Jan Vaculík and adds: “ID Carolina will develop its activities both in the Czech Republic as well as the rest of Europe, symbolically following in Charles IV’s footsteps.” PhDr. Jan Vaculík also mentioned the message that ID Carolina brings: “Each and every one of us is part of history, and history is part of each and every one of us…”