In July 2020, trenches No. 3 and 4, which contained Hallstatt Period sediments, were excavated in the Entrance Hall of the Habrůvka - Býčí skála cave in the Moravian Karst (Blansko District). The layers in trench No. 3 were intact (Hallstatt Period). In trench No. 4 (Fig. 10) in layers 2-3a/3b, the sediments (Hallstatt Period) that had been previously excavated were partially intact in layer No. 3b (Hallstatt Period) and layer No. 4 (Paleolithic?). The excavation fulfilled both goals - Hallstatt Period profiles with layers and findings were documented, and samples were obtained for scientific analyses, which continue to be evaluated. Both trenches captured a sequence of Hallstatt period layers approximately as H. Wankel documented in 1872 - layers A (trench No. 3) - D and cave loess (trench No. 4) (Wankel 1882, Fig. on pg. 383). Further research is also planned for 2021.

V českém prostředí téma poválečného umění ve veřejném prostoru dosud postrádá systematické a vědecky pojaté zhodnocení. Potřeba ověřených dat, která by poskytla přesné informace o okolnostech vzniku děl, vedla v roce 2015 k formulování vědeckovýzkumného záměru České umění 50. – 80. let ve veřejném prostoru: evidence, průzkumy, restaurování. V následujícím roce byl zahájen výzkumný projekt, jehož dílčí částí byl intenzivní plošný výzkum, který probíhal na území celé České republiky. Výsledky archivního bádání i terénního šetření se staly základem webové databáze Sochy a města. Tato specifická umělecká topografie dnes sdružuje aktuální informace o existujících a z části též o zaniklých realizacích. Byla z ní vybrána také hesla do katalogové části publikace. Výběr byl zaměřen na umělecká díla socialistického období osazená v prostředí moravských lokalit.
Výzkumnými metodami se stal především monitoring a dokumentace děl v terénu a také časově náročné archivní rešerše. Z pramenného studia vychází i úvodní kapitoly knihy, které sice zaměřujeme na moravské prostředí, nutně však mají přesah a je možné je vztáhnout i na sousední oblasti socialistického Československa. Na úvod věnujeme prostor krátkému přehledu současného stavu bádání, který ukazuje, že domácí výzkum problematiky je ještě v počátcích. Dále se věnujeme aspektům politické kontroly výtvarné tvorby ve veřejném prostoru a vykreslení širších souvislostí systému objednávek výtvarného umění pro architekturu. Podrobně je popsáno také fungování uměleckých komisí, které tvorbu pro veřejný prostor organizovaly a schvalovaly, a také specifika umělecké tvorby v jednotlivých moravských regionech. Na závěr otevíráme pohled na problematiku současné (ne)péče o rozsáhlý a kvalitativně různorodý fond poválečných realizací. / In the Czech milieu, the theme of post-war art in the public space is still lacking systematic and scientific assessment. The need for verified data that would provide precise information about the circumstances of the origen of the works led in 2015 to the formation of the science-research plan Czech Art of the 1950s – 1980s in the Public Area: Documentation, Surveys, Restoration. In the following year started a research project that included intensive area research across the whole territory of the Czech Republic as one of its parts. The outcomes of archival research and a field survey formed the basis of the online database Sochy a města. Today, this specific art topography summarizes information about existing and partially also vanished implementations. Entries from it have also been selected for the catalogue part of the publication. The selection was focused on artworks installed during the socialist period in localities of the eastern part of the Czech Republic – the historical land of Moravia.
The research methods included above all the monitoring and documentation of works in the field and also archival research. The initial chapters of the book are based on the study of the sources; they are focused on the Moravian milieu but necessarily overlap also to the neighbouring regions of socialist Czechoslovakia. In the beginning, we offer an overview of the current state of research showing that the domestic investigation of this theme is only in the beginnings. Further, we discuss the state control of art production and outline a broader context of the orders of monumental works. The commissioning and the functioning of the art committees that organized and corrected art production for the public space are described in detail. The individual chapters divided according to present-day administrative units sum up the situation in the regions. In the end, we open a view of the issues of present-day (non-)care for the extensive and qualitatively diverse fund.

The Transformation of Confessional Cultures in a Central European City results from a series of projects about the history of Olomouc, a medium-sized royal city in Moravia in the present-day Czech Republic. Set in its regional as well as wider contexts, this study of Olomouc contributes to research into ecclesiastical and religious developments of both the late medieval and early modern periods, and in particular the confessional divisions that followed the German Reformation.

The chapters of this book are divided along chronological lines and also divided by topics and themes including:  Hussitism and Utraquism, the early Czech Reformation, the impact and influences of the German Reformation, and the revival of the Catholic Church from the second half of the seventeenth century. Even though the struggles between rival confessions in the city only took place between the 1530s and 1650s, the council had asserted the city’s Catholicity against the Hussites in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. This emphasis on the city’s Catholic spirituality, and the importance to the urban community of Catholic ritual and ceremonies was restored from the second half of the seventeenth century. The image of religious life in Olomouc that emerges from this study is of a society with competing Catholic bodies and individuals not only opposed to non-Catholic churches but also with sharp internal rivalries between Catholic institutions over forms of ritual and styles of worship.


CONTENTS

    Foreword
    Introduction. Olomouc – The City and Its History, by Jaroslav Miller
    1. A Catholic City in the Hussite Era, 1400-1450s, by Jan Stejskal
        Death of Margrave Jobst
        Catholic City versus Hussite Nobility
        Bishops of Olomouc
        The Besieged City
        Capestrano in the City
        Conclusion
    2. Between Hussitism and Reformation, 1450s-1520s, by Antonín Kalous
        King George
        Competing Catholic Institutions
        The Bishop, the Chapter and the City
        King Matthias
        Religious Orders
        The City and the German Reformation
        Conclusion
    3. The Divided City, 1520s-1600, by Ondřej Jakubec
        Conflict and Coexistence
        1556-1558: Confessional Reversal
        The Olomouc Bishops and Their Confessional Politics in a Divided City
        The Olomouc City Council versus the Olomouc Bishops
        The City School at the Church of St Maurice
        Lutheran Preachers and “Agitators”
        The Death of Georg Thaller in 1570 and non-Catholic Burials in Olomouc
        Disciplining of Religious Life in Olomouc
        The Confessional Topography of Olomouc and Its Visual Manifestations
        Conclusion
    4. The Stormy Path to a Single Religion, 1600-1650, by Tomáš Parma
        Difficult Continuity: Olomouc in the pre-White Mountain Period
        Revolt of the Estates: The Temporary Hegemony of non-Catholics
        State Enforced re-Catholicisation and Decline of the City
        Swedish Occupation
        Conclusion
    5. The Evolution of Catholic Identity, 1650-1700, by Radmila Prchal Pavlíčková
        Pilgrimage and Baroque Spirituality
        Bishop Charles
        Revival of Catholic Piety
        Active Religious Life
        Conclusion
    6. Consolidation, 1700-1750, by Martin Elbel
        Balance of Power
        Self-Assured Triumph
        New Challenges
        Conclusion
    Afterword, by Graeme Murdock
    List of Olomouc Bishops, 1397-1776
    List of Figures
    List of Abbreviations
    Archival Sources
    Bibliography
    Index

The newest research provides a basic overview of the occurrence of amber in the Central European area of the Early
Iron Age, analysing the testimony of amber finds primarily from the Czech and Slovak republics, while also looking at
the current state of research in neighbouring countries. Remarkable findings have been made in a comparison of the
rather distinct development in Bohemia and Moravia in the period from the 8th century BC to the first half of the 6th
century BC, and especially in the second half of the 6th century to the 5th century BC. Workshops processing amber at
Horákov and Platěnice culture settlements are known in Moravia from the early phase demarcated by stages Ha C –
Ha D1/2. Given the unusual concentration of sites with amber in Moravia, it is reasonable to consider the significant
involvement of the bearers of the Horákov and Platěnice cultures in long-distance trade with this material. However,
amber disappears completely from Moravia in the later phase of Ha D2 and in stage Ha D3, the Amber Road corridor
moves more to the west and Bohemia gains an important role in this context. In the period bounded by the stages Ha D2
and LT A, there is no longer any evidence of the production of ornaments made from amber in Moravia, and flat land
settlements where amber was processed now appear in Bohemia. The find inventories at the majority of these settlement
sites also conspicuously contain imports from the Mediterranean, implying the integration of the studied settlements
with amber finds into the network of trans-regional long-distance routes. In addition to a marked concentration of sites
with finds of amber, the course of long-distance corridors also reveals imports of Etruscan bronze vessels that reached
Bohemia at the end of the 6th century BC and during the 5th century BC over the Alps from northern Italy. In the Late
Hallstatt and Early La Tène periods, the local elite in Bohemia maintained trans-regional contacts, were involved in the
organisation of long distance exchange and acquired extraordinary goods that they then distributed further. A detailed
mapping of Early Iron Age amber finds in Central Europe captures the changes of its distribution and evidently reflects
major transformations in the socioeconomic and power-political sphere at the time.

Hrad Křídlo. Historie, stavební vývoj a archeologie zříceniny šlechtického sídla v Hostýnských vrších [Castle Křídlo. History, building development, and archaeology of a ruined noble house in the Hostýnské vrchy hills; 2021] (co-authors Radim Vrla, Dalibor Janiš, Jana Janišová, Zdeněk Schenk, Lenka Bartíková, Petr Žákovský, Adam Fojtík, Miroslav Popelka, Zdeněk Štaffen, Pavel Fojtík, Samuel Španihel)

Von den Socken. Ein Beitrag zur Kulturgeschichte der Politik am Beispiel des Einzugs König Sigismunds zum Konzil in Basel 1433. Mit der Edition eines Sigismundbriefes und einiger Einträge im Basler Fronfastenrechnungsbuch,  in: Kaiser Sigismund (1368?1437). Zur Herrschaftspraxis eines europäischen Monarchen (Forschungen zur Kaiser- und Papstgeschichte des Mittelalters. Beihefte zu J. F. Böhmer, Regesta Imperii 31), hg. v. Karel Hruza und Alexandra Kaar, Wien/ Köln/ Weimar (Böhlau) 2012, S. 385-409.