Zuzana Bergrová

+420 553 684 479

zuzana.bergrova(at)fpf.slu.cz

Masarykova třída 343/37
746 01, Opava
Czech Republic

Web (in czech language): https://www.slu.cz/fpf/cz/uhvoustavu

Prof. PhDr. Jiří Knapík, Ph.D.

Personal web (in czech): http://uhv.fpf.slu.cz/osobni/mgr-martin-pelc-ph-d/

Mgr. Ilona Matejko-Peterka, Ph.D.

Personal web (in czech): http://uhv.fpf.slu.cz/osobni/mgr-ilona-matejko-peterka-ph-d/

Mgr. David Radek, Ph.D.

Personal web (in czech): http://uhv.fpf.slu.cz/osobni/mgr-david-radek-ph-d/

Mgr. Igor Zmeták, Ph.D.

Personal web (in czech): http://uhv.fpf.slu.cz/osobni/mgr-igor-zmetak-phd/

PhDr. Marian Hochel, Ph.D.

Personal web (in czech): http://uhv.fpf.slu.cz/osobni/phdr-marian-hochel-ph-d/

doc. PhDr. Vratislav Janák, CSc

Personal web (in czech): https://uhv.fpf.slu.cz/osobni/doc-phdr-vratislav-janak-csc-2/

The Institute of Historical Sciences is a tribal department of the Faculty of Philosophy and Natural Sciences of the Silesian University in Opava. Since 1990, creative activities in the field of historical sciences have been concentrated here; in autumn 1990, the first study fields were opened and the Department of History was established, which was expanded in March 1992 to the Institute of History and Museology. The field of prehistory and medieval archaeology was developed from 1995 in the Archaeological Seminary of this Institute, then the third archaeological university department in the Czech lands after Prague and Brno. Later it was transformed into the Department of Archaeology. In 2008, the institute adopted the name of the Institute of Historical Sciences and its internal structure consisted of the Department of History, the Department of Museology and Heritage Care and the Department of Archaeology (in 2009-2024 as the Department of Archaeology of the Faculty of Arts of the SU). Currently, the Institute of Historical Sciences is a fully accredited institute with the right to hold rigorous, habilitation and professorial proceedings in the field of History with a focus on Czech and Czechoslovak history.

Since its establishment, the Institute of Historical Sciences has been profiled as a specialist workplace dealing with Silesian studies understood in a broad Central European context. The Silesian area is explored from prehistory, or the beginning of the early historical period, to the present day. This historical region is examined on two levels: firstly, the space of Czech (or in the case of archaeology of Upper) Silesia itself, which is due to the long research tradition of the research institutions in Opava (Silesian Museum, Silesian Institute of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, the Provincial Archive in Opava, the Exposition of the Institute of Archaeology of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences), and secondly, the space of Silesia as a whole in the European context, into which it has been integrated since the Middle Ages by political, economic and cultural ties. In the last ten years, this research profile has been shifting from political, economic and social history to cultural history, cultural heritage and landscapes in the context of the region's international ties. In practice, this is reflected in the field of heritage conservation, the presentation of cultural heritage, including applied research, and the so-called third role of the university, for example in cooperation with the educational sphere.

Another area of research is represented by the cultural history of the Czech lands, also conceived in a Central European context; research here is based on a broader concept of cultural history, which, in addition to the activities of social elites, also examines all cultural activities of man as manifested in his lifestyle. Currently, the emphasis is on the study of selected aspects of education, life stages and leisure activities in different historical phases. The topics of political, economic and social history are not neglected, which can build on the earlier research focus.

A relatively new direction of creative activity is represented by the activities related to the accreditation of the study programme Historical Documentary and Media Presentation of History (2022) focused on the presentation of historical memory.