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Karolinum, originally lat. Collegium Carolinum, or
"Charles' College", is the historic seat of Charles University in
the building of its oldest university dormitory, which was named
after its founder, Charles IV. It is located in the Old Town of
Prague, on the corner of Fruit Market and Železná Street, south of
Old Town Square. It has been a national cultural monument since
1992.
The ground floor of the Karolina includes a number of
Gothic vaulted spaces from the 14th century, the first floor
contains a rare Gothic bay chapel and the Great Karolina Hall (Aula
magna), which is known especially as the place of matriculation and
graduation of Charles University students. The outer shell of the
building is mainly in the Baroque style by F. M. Kaňka, other
important modifications were made by J. Fragner after the Second
World War.
The house of Jan Rotlev (Johlin Rothlev), the royal
mint master and banker from Kutná Hora, who discovered new gold deposits
in Jílové, built a royal mint there and, thanks to the wealth he
acquired, bought neighboring houses in Prague and rebuilt his house into
a Gothic palace.
By deed dated August 28, 1383, Rotlev sold his
stone palace with towers, a chapel and 141 windows to King Wenceslas IV,
supposedly saving his son Martin, who was threatened with the death
penalty for drawing a sword during a court hearing. The king donated the
complex of houses to Charles College, and then by 1386 they were
structurally expanded and combined into one unit.
The Karolinum
was rebuilt several times: the first time in 1383–1386 for the purposes
of the university, the second time for the purposes of the Jesuit law
faculty. A major Baroque reconstruction was carried out in 1716–1718 by
František Maxmilián Kaňka at the initiative of the rector, law professor
Václav Xaver Neumann from Puchholtz. Furthermore, the building complex
was modernized in 1882 by Josef Mocker, in the years 1946–1968 the
entire area was reconstructed according to the project of Jaroslav
Fragner and in the years 1996–1998 it was modified in the same style by
the architect Tomáš Šantavý.
In the period after the Battle of
White Mountain, it was the seat of the Faculty of Law and Medicine, and
during the First Republic, the German University in Prague.
Present
Currently, the Karolinum is the seat of the rector and
central institutions of Charles University, the academic senate meets
here and it is used for ceremonial and representative purposes, such as
graduation, matriculation, etc.
The main Karolina building No.
541 between Železná, Kamzíková and Ovocný trh streets (Hafenekr's wing,
rector's wing, southeast house) is a national cultural monument, the
entire area between Celetná street (blocks 14–20) and Ovocný trh (blocks
5 and 7) ) with houses No. 559 (Bubnovský house with courtyard wing and
enclosure wall), 560 (U Nožičký house with southern courtyard building
and Rector's tower), 561 (U Sv. Jana house with courtyard building) and
562 (Buquoy house) and a fountain with lions by the contemporary Czech
sculptor Stanislav Hanzík The Fountain of Science, the statue of Master
Jan Hus and the fencing and flagpoles near the main building are
protected as a cultural monument.
The Karolinum Publishing House
and also the planet 2288 Karolinum are named after Karolin.