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The Faculty of Civil Engineering, at present one of the eight colleges of the
Czech Technical University in Prague, was established, on January 18, 1707 at
the initiative of Josef Christian Willenberg. On the basis of the foundation
Charter, issued by Emperor Joseph I and written in Czech, the institution,
under the name of the Estates School of Engineering in Prague, was proclaimed
as the first public engineering school in Central Europe. Nonetheless, the
history of Czech technical education goes back further than this date. It was
preceded by the Prague Public Engineering and Metallurgical School, in actual
fact the first civil engineering school in the Czech Lands. Founded in 1344,
four years before Charles University of Prague was established, the school's
founder was Master Matthias of Arras, brought from France by the Czech prince
Vaclav (Wenceslas), later famous as the King of Bohemia and Germany and the
Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV. The school was founded so that Matthias
might ensure necessary qualifications for his collaborators.
The Estates School of Engineering was therefore among the first of its kind
in all of Europe, established forty years before, for instance, the prestigious
and still existing Ecole des Ponts et Chaussees of Paris, which was founded
in 1747. While in its beginnings under the leadership of its founder and first
professor J. C. Willenberg, the institution was intended for military
and fortification engineering, its focus gradually turned towards civilian
engineering under the management of its second professor J. F. Sochor,
an outstanding artist, painter, architect and theorist, The process was strengthened
further after his death, when the third and last professor F. A. Herget,
a distinguished geodesic and hydraulic engineering specialist, was the
head of the School. After the School's temporary absorbtion into the university
(during which it nonetheless maintained its own chief administrator), which took
place during Prof. Herget's tenure in 1787, the Royal Bohemian Estates
Polytechnical School regained independence in 1815 under Prof.
F. J. Gerstner, a prominent astronomer, geodesist and specialist
in hydraulic and railway engineering. A new and significant epoch of
development started in 1861, when the Czech language, thanks to Prof.
Skuhersky's undaunted stand, was introduced as a language of instruction
and administration side by side with German, hitherto used exclusively. In
1864, the School was divided into two parts, Czech and German, testifying to
the economic and cultural strength of the Czech population and as well to the
development of industry in the Czech Lands. As early as 1863, when the organic
status was issued granting equal rights to the Czech and German languages, four
individual study branches of instruction were introduced: hydraulic and
highway engineering, civil engineering, mechanical engineering and technical
chemistry. Finally, in 1869, the Royal Bohemian Polytechnical National Institute
was officially divided into two independent institutes: Czech and German.
After the nationalization of both the Polytechnical National Schools in 1875,
the Czech School was renamed the Royal and Imperial Bohemian Technical University
in Prague in 1879. According to the new organizational regulations introduced
after Czechoslovak national independence in 1920, the name of the school was
changed to the Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU).
During the occupation of the country by Nazi Germany, all Czech universities
were forcibly closed from 1939 till 1945. After the liberation, all the colleges
of the Technical University of Prague were able to resume their activities.
Following the changes in 1920, the University comprised seven individual colleges:
civil engineering, architecture and building construction, mechanical and electrical
engineering, chemical technology, agricultural and forestry engineering, special
sciences and commerce.
In 1951, the Faculty of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering was divided into
the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and the Faculty of Electrical Engineering.
In 1952, the Faculty of Agriculture and the Faculty of Chemical Technology
left the Czech Technical University and established individual univereities.
In 1959, the Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering was founded,
followed by the Faculty of Transportation Sciences in 1994.
From the point of view of the present Faculty of Civil Engineering, in terms
of organization, conception, and educational mission, it is highly significant,
perhaps even symbolic, that three leading personalities of their age, who deserve
credit for founding and expanding the Estates School of Engineering in Prague,
impressed a many-sided approach to problems of construction onto the University
from its outset. They were the first professor J. C. Willenberg in
the field of civil and fortification engineering, the second professor
J. F. Sochor in the artistic and architectural field, and the third
professor F. A. Herget in the field of mathematical, geodesic and
civil engineering.
Hand in hand with the technical universities' organizational development, the
statutory development proceded onwards as well. In spite of the original absence
of rules either for registration for lectures or for holding examinations, the
final qualification was from the outset an open procedure, finalized with
a public ceremony. Only beginning in 1878 were two state examinations
introduced at the Royal and Imperial Bohemian Technical University in Prague.
In 1901, when the examination rules were issued, the Prague Polytechnic was
granted the right of conferring doctoral degrees (the first degree ceremony
being held in 1902).
The Faculty of Civil Engineering came into existence in 1960 by bringing together
the independent faculties of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Structural
Engineering, Land Surveying, and the structural branch of the no longer extant
Faculty of Economic Engineering. In 1976, the Faculty of Architecture once
again established its independence.
According to its statutes, the Facultv of Civil Engineering's objective, in
mutual cooperation of the branches of study, departments and workplaces of
the Faculty, is primarily:
- to educate civil engineers in various study programs to acquire the knowledge
necessary to analyze and solve technical and economic developments in the
construction industry
- to ensure a high level of scientific research, in its full complexity and
orientation, in order to analyze and solve relevant tasks of development
of scientific knowledge and its practical application in the construction
industry
- to serve as a centre of cultural activities in the field of construction.
The present-day organizational structure of the Faculty of Civil Engineering,
including all branches of study as well as departments, is available on further
web pages.
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