On Saturday, 26 October, a concert to mark the 30th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution will take place in the Bethlehem Chapel from 19:00 in cooperation with CTU, the Institute of Chemical Technology in Prague and the University of Pardubice. The concert was supported by a financial grant from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the events of 1989 in the then Czechoslovakia. Concerted symphony orchestras and choirs from the three universities mentioned above will be performed in cooperation with the friendly choirs Ars Vocalis and the Choeur des Pays du Mont-Blanc from Geneva. They will mention Brahms' Requiem as a reminder of the victims of totalitarian regimes. The concert commemorates both the victims of the student unrest in 1939, led by Jan Opletal, and the victims of the communist dictatorship. The date of 26 October was also chosen with a view to the upcoming 28 October, in order to commemorate this concert as well as the Day of Independence of Czechoslovakia.
The events of November 17th 1939 will be
commemorated by the exhibition of the CTU Archive in Masaryk Dormitory. On that day, Czech universities were closed, nine representatives of student organizations were executed and many other students were deported to a concentration camp. The exhibition will not only mention these events, which also affected CTU, but will also introduce the fate of courageous students and professors of CTU who did not hesitate to deploy their lives in the fight for freedom. The exhibition takes place in the unique premises of Masaryk Dormitory in the Dejvice campus, the First Republic building by prof. Antonín Engel, who also witnessed these fatal events. The opening of the exhibition will take place on 5 November at 15:00 pm at Masaryk Dormitory. The exhibition will last from 6 to 16 November.
The Velvet Autumn exhibition of the Czech Technical University maps out events at our oldest and largest technical university at the turn of 1989/1990, in the context of all-society contemporary events. Since the events of 17 November, 1989 and the student movement, it shifts its focus to the concrete consequences of the Velvet Revolution at CTU, where, in a rapid succession, there has been a complete personnel change in almost all leading positions. The textual part of the exhibition is accompanied by photographic material from the collections of the CTU Archive, as well as the Archive of Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, the Military History Institute, the Czech Press Office and PhDr. Radek Haubert and others. The opening of the exhibition will take place on 13 November 2019 at the CTU Rector's Office and will be open to the public from 14 November 2019 on the ground floor of the CIIRC CTU building, Building B, Jugoslavskych Partizanu 1580/3, Prague 6.
Two interconnected exhibitions will be held at the Faculty of Civil Engineering to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the Velvet Revolution. A selection of works by several of our prominent photographers will be presented in Documentary Photography in the Gallery of the Faculty of Civil Engineering under the name November ´89. The authors of the exhibited photographs are Karel Cudlín, Jaroslav Kučera, Dana Kyndrová, Jan Šilpoch, Pavel Štecha and Jiří Všetečka. There will also be an exhibition of vintage posters on the Revolutionary Days in November ´89 and the Civic Forum. The Velvet Revolution Posters exhibition will not be installed in a consistent manner, but the posters will be placed in the entrance atrium of the Faculty. The plastered columns and walls will evoke the atmosphere of a time when the inscriptions, slogans and posters were wrapped everywhere. The opening of both exhibitions will be on Tuesday, 5 November at 15:00. The exhibitions will be held until Friday, 29 November.
The anniversary of November 17th 1989 will be commemorated by the rector of CTU doc. Vojtěch Petráček also at at the Bohemian National Hall in New York on 6 November at 19:00 where he will give a lecture.
On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, the Faculty of Architecture publishes the book “30 Years of Freedom”. It is a collection of interviews with prominent architects of several generations with some connection with the faculty. It will be christened on 11 November at 18:00 and will be followed by a public debate on the state of architecture and its evolution from November ´89 until today. Miroslav Masák, who worked as an advisor to President Havel, Mirko Baum, one of the most famous Czech architects living abroad, the Dean of the Faculty Ladislav Lábus and the prominent Czech musician Vladimir 518, are among more than twenty prominent Czech architects who confirmed their participation as guests of the debate. The debate will be followed by a concert by the band of architect Prokop Tomášek - Abigail Ybarra.
On Friday, 15 November, an event called Time of Change will take place at the Dejvice Campus. This is an open air party with interesting artists, at which CTU reminds us that the university is a place where we can develop freedom, cooperation, truth, decency and tolerance.
On Friday, 15 November, the vice-rector for the CTU information system, Ing. Radek Holý, Ph.D., will attend a commemorative laying of the Stone of the Disappeared (Stolpersteine) in front of the U Kočků House in Jilská Street 9 (Prague 1) at 17.00, where Marek Frauwirth, was arrested by the Gestapo on 17 November 1939 and later executed without a trial. Marek Frauwirth successfully completed his university studies at the Czech Technical University in 1939 and earned his degree as a commercial engineer. He was involved in the distribution of resistance leaflets and anti-German printed materials.
On Saturday, 16 November, a student celebration for the anniversary of November 17th 1939, will be organised by the Institute of Physical Education and Sport of the Czech Technical University with a Run on 17 November in the Hvězda Game Preserve. This will be the 67th run of the 17th November, which will host the 57th year of the Academic Cross-Country Championship. The event is open to university students, employees and all sports fans. It starts at 9.30.
On 17 November, a concert will be held in the Bethlehem Chapel at 19:00 in cooperation with the Czech Technical University and the Foundation “The Talent of Josef, Marie and Zdeňka Hlávka”, organized on the occasion of the National Day of November 17th and International Student Day.
Pictures: Archiv ČVUT
