The Restoration School from Litomyšl is celebrating 25 years

Litomyšl - Today, the Faculty of Restoration at the University of Pardubice commemorated 25 years since its establishment with a meeting of alumni and other events. The school, located in Litomyšl in the Svitavy region, currently has 90 students and has no shortage of applicants for study. "We accept 16 students per year. We have to reject approximately two-thirds of the applicants for study," said Radomír Slovik, the dean of the faculty, to ČTK today. Since its inception, the school has trained around 400 specialists who have saved numerous Czech and foreign monuments.

Students and teachers from the school have participated in the restoration of Charles Bridge in Prague and the restoration of the Gothic tombstone of the first Archbishop of Prague, Arnošt of Pardubice, in Kłodzko, Poland. The school has also worked on the rescue of Braun's Bethlehem in Kuks, the restoration of the Tugendhat villa in Brno, a Gothic well in Kutná Hora, oil paintings on the walls of the church in Tábor-Klokoty, and sgraffito decorations in Slavonice.

Today, the faculty employs 30 academic staff and offers four accredited four-year bachelor's programs and two two-year follow-up master's programs. Students acquire knowledge for the restoration of works made of stone, wall paintings, sgraffiti, paper, books, documents, and works on paper.

"Recently, there has been the greatest interest in studying the restoration of works of art on paper substrates. This is also due to the fact that graduates of so-called paper-related programs find much better employment in practice. They work, for example, in galleries, archives, and museums," the dean said.

Graduates of the stone and wall painting restoration programs typically work as freelance restorers. According to Slovik, they also have no trouble finding work. "There is now plenty of work for restorers. This is also due to the fact that the state's investment in culture and restoration is higher than in the past," he said.

The school in Litomyšl was established in April 1993 originally as a Private School of Restoration and Conservation Techniques. Subsequently transformed into a higher vocational school, it became a private college of non-university type in 2000 and eventually became the Faculty of Restoration at the University of Pardubice in 2005. Seven years ago, the faculty established the Center for Restoration and Heritage Care, which provides further vocational training for restorers and services in cultural heritage care.

In Litomyšl, the faculty operates in studios on Jirásková Street and in the recently renovated Piarist College on Castle Hill. For this year's anniversary, the school today opened an exhibition at the Museum of Restoration and Historical Technologies in the Red Tower on the faculty grounds on Jirásková Street, which will be accessible to the public until July 8.