About Department

The Department of Art History was established at the Faculty of Arts in 1946 by VáclavRichter, who followed the tradition of the “Vienna school of history of art” whose founder was Rudolf Eitelberger von Edelberg (1817–1885), who was the first Professor of the History of Art at the Vienna University and born in Olomouc, where he studied at the Faculty of Law. The department was renewed in 1990 by Richter’s pupil Milan Togner. The richness of  medieval and baroque heritage in Olomouc, including the romanesque Bishop’s Palace, the gothic St Maurice church, baroque Holy Trinity column, six baroque fountains and the vast art collections of the bishops and archbishops of Olomouc (including e.g. Titian, Cranach, Del Piombo, Veronese, Bassano, Allori, Carracci, Van Dyck) gives an appropriate background to the department, which, since 2002, has had its study and lecture rooms in the medieval and Baroque spaces of the former Jesuit College in the historical centre of Olomouc.