Did the Exodus really happen?  Was there ever another homeland? Does a historical claim through theology carry any weight? Are Jews who support Israel without exception hypocritical?

The mission of the Czech Institute of Egyptology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague has recently made an unexpected discovery at Abusir South that once again highlights the importance of this cemetery of the Old Kingdom officials.

‘Technological symbolism in Putin's Russia: is there a continuity with Soviet icons?' This is the question Paul Josephson (Colby College, Maine) posed to us as he began his lecture in the Faculty of Arts on the 12th November.

When we think about archaeology in Italy, we automatically think about Pompeii and Herculaneum. It is the defined topic in schools, the basis of TV programmes, books and films, it is what the media will dedicate some tiny article to at the back of their newspaper. But, as Dr Girolamo Ferdinando de Simone’s lecture on: ‘The Dark Side of Vesuvius: Archaeology beyond Pompeii and Herculaneum‘ demonstrated to me, there is a whole territory undiscovered and unknown, a mystery about to be unravelled by de Simone and his team.

We all know about Medieval Literature, don’t we? We know about Knights in Shining Armour, and Damsels in Distress. We know about the struggle two-thirds of the way through the plot for said Knight to prove plucky, make like a hero, and rescue the biddable babe (as still witness in almost all Hollywood Rom-Coms). We know about this. We know about Princesses in towers, locked up by evil witchy-types, but also bawdy Wife-Of-Bath-types, and Pious Pilgrims.

From Thursday the 20th November to Sunday the 23rd November, the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport of Charles University played host to the 7th International Mountain and Outdoor Sports Conference. The event was organised by the Department of Turistika, Outdoor Sports and Outdoor Education and saw experts from departments of outdoor sports in universities all over the world come to Prague to share their work and experiences with like-minded individuals. Outdoor sports enthusiasts and students alike were also present.

On Thursday, November 6, the Faculty of Arts of Charles University hosted a lecture by Professor John C. Lennox, Professor of Mathematics and Philosophy of Science in Oxford University, titled “Has Science Buried God?” The vast interest in this topic was clear from the moment I arrived at the venue in the Faculty of Arts main building.

From a young age I have had an avid interest in the big events of the past hundred years. For reasons that don’t need stating, it’s quite obvious that the Great War was one of those events. The international conference “Climax or Beginning? Modernity, Central Europe and the Great War” held in Prague by the Faculty of Arts, Charles University on the 24th and 25th of October was thus truly fascinating, and I relished the opportunity to attend.

Unfortunately, we don’t know if Egyptians in love exchanged presents on special occasions; on the other hand, we have a relatively good idea of how Ancient Egyptian marriages worked. PhDr. Hana Vymazalová, Ph.D., of the Czech Institute of Egyptology of the CU Faculty of Arts, told us more.

“The Collegium Europaeum is an open community of researchers from Charles University and the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic,” says PhDr. Petr Hlaváček, Ph.D., founder and coordinator of the Collegium Europaeum research group. Last year the Collegium presented to the public a new book entitled Vytěsněná elita (‘The Displaced Elite’) and this year it plans to start publishing a specialist journal entitled Vertigo.