Science and research

In terms of science and research at the National Museum, the year 2022 was in the spirit of loosening the measures associated with the pandemic, which in previous years had fundamentally negative effects, especially on domestic and foreign field research or research in the collections of other institutions. In 2022, the scientific and research activities of the National Museum took place within the natural and social sciences, in the form of basic and applied research. As part of the concept of Institutional Support for the Long-Term Development of Research Organizations (IP DKRVO), 26 research areas with 100 partial and more than 70 goals that can be monitored were addressed. At the same time, the National Museum dealt with 38 projects of various subsidy programs and focus. For the year 2022, it was possible to apply and report to the Register of Information on Results (RIV) the largest number of results for the entire history of the institution – a total of 334 published and applied outputs. Among them, we would like to mention 92 articles published in prestigious impact periodicals and 34 professional books. Within the framework of the results of applied research, 13 specialized public databases, 2 certified methodologies, 2 functional samples, 1 map with professional content, 1 heritage procedure, 5 exhibitions with a critical catalogue, 2 software programs and 1 semi-operation were applied for the year 2022. Employees of the National Museum also presented the results of their scientific and research activities also at professional conferences, seminars and workshops. Out of a total of 87 contributions, 56 contributions were presented at domestic and 31 at foreign scientific events.

The most significant scientific discoveries and at the same time good examples of successful cooperation between scientists from the National Museum and foreign colleagues include the participation of this institution in a project led by experts from the University of New York, Vienna and Harvard Medical School in cooperation with the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. The related Large-Scale Migration into Britain during the Middle to Late Bronze Age study, which was published in the prestigious journal Nature, made a fundamental contribution to clarifying human migration to Britain during the Bronze Age. It revealed that between 1300 and 800 BC there was a large-scale movement of people from the territory of Western Europe (today’s France and Belgium) to the area of Britain, thereby replacing about half of the ancestors of the population of south-eastern Britain. Another achievement that is worth mentioning in connection with the published results of science and research of the National Museum was winning the Most Beautiful Book 2021 award for Dr. Lubomír Sršeň’s extraordinary three-volume monograph Painted Hanging Portraits: a collection of the Early Czech History Department of the National Museum, which represents the culmination of many years of research by the above-named expert.

Contractual collaborations include, for example, memoranda of understanding with the National Palace Museum and the National Taiwan Museum in Taipei (Taiwan), on the basis of which the mentioned institutions became sister museums cooperating on scientific projects, exhibitions and internships of expert staff. Also worth mentioning is the Memorandum of Cooperation with the University of New South Wales, Sydney (Australia), on the project “Production of a Robust Classification and Identification Key of the Halyomorpha Complex and Allied Taxa” in 2022-2024.

In 2022, the National Museum published a total of 32 non-periodical publications. Of these, 27 were the result of scientific and research activities, 5 books represented accompanying publications to the exhibitions and expositions of the museum. An unusual addition to the publishing activities of the National Museum was the publication of an e-book in Wad Bānagā, an Arabic language, dedicated to the archaeological site of the National Museum in North African Sudan. In other publishing activities, the National Museum entered into several publishing collaborations (Academia, Grada, Lika klub, Matice česká, K.A.V.K.A., Akropolis). The National Museum distributes most of this year’s titles as printed and electronic publications, and 4 titles exclusively as e-books. These can be found at Palmknihy.cz. The National Museum continues to publish 11 magazines.