The Olomouc Theological Faculty is preparing to establish a research center

Olomouc - A university center for science and research will be established in Olomouc. The Olomouc Faculty of Theology of Palacký University wants to build it in the former university dormitory of Marie Kudeříková on Kateřinská Street. The proposal for the reconstruction of the building was prepared by the architectural and design studio Ječmen from Olomouc. The building is also expected to regain part of its historical appearance, university spokeswoman Gabriela Sýkorová Dvorníková said today for ČTK. The reconstruction will begin this month, and the work should be completed by the end of this year. The costs will be around 40 million crowns.

The reconstruction will create modern facilities for the faculty's research teams or for doctoral students. "Our faculty is growing scientifically. Over the last four years, scientific performance has approximately doubled. The center for working with patristic, medieval, and Renaissance texts has a scientifically admirable history and deserves dignified spaces," said the faculty dean Peter Tavel.

According to the dean, the faculty needs a space where all doctoral candidates and research staff can be together. "They are currently scattered across various places, including rented spaces on 1st May Avenue, which we will be able to vacate after the building on Kateřinská Street is approved. I think it will be a really good investment," added Dean Tavel.

The center on Kateřinská Street will offer classrooms, offices, consultation-therapeutic spaces, or a laboratory for measuring biomarkers in relation to social sciences after reconstruction. "We have managed to create a methodology for measuring oxytocin levels. No one in the Czech Republic is professionally addressing its connection to spirituality to such an extent. In the laboratory, we will also measure other hormones, such as cortisol, or skin resistance and EKG," the dean added. He noted that in relation to the theology faculty, this might sound strange, but researchers will obtain information for social health research from the measurements.

The dormitory will primarily change in the interior. External modifications will mainly concern the corner tower, where the main entrance to the building will be relocated and an attic chapel dedicated to St. Catherine will be created. The building at Kateřinská 17 served until 2013 as accommodation for students as the Marie Kudeříková dormitory, and then as a temporary refuge for some departments of the Faculty of Philosophy.