PhDr. Klára Benešovská, CSc.

Emerita Researcher at the Department of Medieval Art until December 2022.

Klára Benešovská focuses on architecture and architectural sculpture in the 11th - 16th century and its cultural and historical context. Her areas of interest also include art historical historiography.

Between 1968 and 1973, Benešovská studied art history and classical archaeology at the Faculty of Arts, University of J. E. Purkyně Brno and the Faculty of Arts, Charles University (PhDr. 1975). Between 1983 and 1987, she was a scholarly candidate at the Institute of Theory and History of Art, CAS (1990 Csc.). Since 1989, she has been working at the Institute of Art History CAS: 1990–2001 as a researcher, 1997–2001 as the secretary for research and 1997–2012 as a member of IAS's scholarly council. 2004–2019 she was the head of the Department of Medieval Art. She was the principal investigator of the project Imago, Imagines (GAČR 2013-2017) and since 2019 she collaborates on grants Image/s in Přemyslid era: Contexts and Forms (GAČR) and Reflecting Jerusalem in Medieval Czech Lands (GAČR). She was the author of the exhibition A Royal Marriage. Elisabeth Premyslid and John of Luxembourg – 1310 (Prague 2010–2011, Gloria musealis award for international contribution) and collaborated on the following exhibitions: Ten Ceturies of Architecture (Prague Castle 2001 – Romanesqe and Gothic Architecture), permanent exhibition The Story of Prague Castle (Prague Castle, Old Palace since 2004), The Slavonic Monastery of Charles IV. Devotion, Art, Literary Culture (Emmauz Monastery in Prague 2016). Benešovská headed the project Bohemian State in the Time of Wenceslas IV. The Evidence of Art: exhibition at the Gallery of Science and Art, CAS 2019 (Strategy AV 21 Europe and the State: Between Barbarism and Civilisation). She is the head of the international project Royal Nunneries at the Center of Medieval Europe. Networks, Gender, Acculturation.

Research Outputs (selection):

Klára Benešovská, Strategie urbane e rappresentazione del potere: dalla Praga dei Přemyslidi alla Praga dei Lussemburghi (1310–1420), in: Serena Romano – Marco Rossi (edd.), Strategie urbane e rappresentazione del potere, 1277–1385. Milano e le città d’Europa. Volume 2: Atti del convegno internazionale, SilvanaEditoriale Milano 2023, p. 100–113.

Klára Benešovská, Royal Nunneries in Czech Lands: Their Specifity and Research Perspectives, in: Klára Benešovská – Tanja Michalsky – Daniela Rywiková –Elisabetta Scirocco (edd.), Royal Nunneries at the Center of Medieval Europe. Art, Architecture, Aesthetics (13th–14th Centuries), Convivium Supplementum 2022/1, p. 154–163.

Klára Benešovská, Rhythm and Architecture around 1400: Changing Architecture Paradigms at St. Vitus's Lodge, in:  Rhianydd Hallas – Hana Vlhová–Wörner (edd.), Rhythm in the Arts in the Late Middle Ages I,  Journal of the Alamire Foundation Volume 14-Number 2 (2022), p. 211–224.

Klára Benešovská, Kamenná socha madony s nápisem – výzva nejen pro epigrafiky, in David Vrána, Jana Marešová, Jan Chlíbec, Kristina Uhlíková (edd.), Epigraphica & Sepulcralia. Georgio Roháček sexagenario oblata. Fórum epigrafických a sepulkrálních studií. Sborník 21. mezinárodního zasedání k problematice sepulkrálních památek, Praha 3.–4.listopadu 2022, Artefactum Praha 2022, s. 89–108.

Klára Benešovská, Disparition, réouverture et clôture du chantier cathédral de Prague (1419-1933), in Le chantier cathédral en Europe – Diffusion et sauvegarde des savoirs, savoir-faire et matériaux. Sous la direction de Isabelle Chave, Étienne Faisant et Dany Sandron, Le Passage Paris–New York Editions 2020, pp. 128–139

Kateřina Kubínová – Klára Benešovská (edd.), Imago, imagines. Výtvarné dílo a proměny jeho funkcí v českých zemích od 10. do první třetiny 16. století, [I. Díl: Náboženská funkce obrazu; II. Díl: Reprezentativní a memoriální funkce obrazu], Praha Academia 2019

Klára Benešovská – Helena Dáňová – David Vrána (eds.), Ivo Kořán. Texty, Praha Artefactum 2019

Klára Benešovská –Jan Chlíbec (edd.), Více Krásy, Praha Artefactum 2019

Klára Benešovská, Art and Architecture in the Period 800-1500 (with Kateřina Kubínová) and texts in: Taťána Petrasová – Rostislav Švácha (edd.), Art in the Czech Lands 800–2000, Řevnice: Arbor vitae societas – Praha: Artefactum 2017, p. 39–74; pp. 84–85,  86–87, 88–90,  91–93, 102–103, 110–111, 112–113, 132–133, 134–135, 136–137, 138–140, 141–142, 143–145, 152–154, 158–61, 180–181, 182–185, 188–190, 191–192, 198–199, 202–203, 204–205, 209–211, 214–216, 222–224, 238–241, 248–251, 252–253, 254–255, 268–271, 286–289, 290–291, 292–293, 294–295, 300–303, 309–311, 312–314, 318–319, 320–321, 322–323.

Klára Benešovská, Josef Cibulka a Svatovítská rotunda, in: Michal Sklenář – Kristina Uhlíková – Vít Vlnas (eds.), Josef Cibulka, kněz, pedagog a historik umění ve 20. století. Praha 2020, s. 133–150

Klára Benešovská, Kauza Václav Mencl: někdo musí z kola ven. Příspěvek k výuce dějin umění v letech 1938-1952, Umění / Art LXVI 2018, s. 194–203, 241.

Klára Benešovská, Ce qu’il advint de l’architecture gothique à la cour de Charles IV et de Venceslas IV, in: Arnaud Timbert (ed.), Qu’est-ce que l’architecturegothique? Essais, préface Ch. Freigang, postface Br. Phalip, Villeneuve-d’Ascq, Presses univ. Septentrion, coll. «Architecture &Urbanisme», 2018, s. 181–195.

Klára Benešovská, The Epilogue of the “Orient oder Rom” debate in the 1970s? The Forgotten Work of Václav Mencl, in: Ivan Foletti – Francesco Lovino (edd.), Orient oder Rom. History and Reception of a Historiographical myth (1901-1970), Viella Roma 2018, s. 147–162

Klára Benešovská, Charles IV 1978–2016. Reviewing the Ideological Background of the Exhibitions and Conferences in 1978. Convivium 2017, IV, 1 [Medieval Art History in Prison], s. 159–173.

Klára Benešovská, De la circulation des „locis sanctis“– le Mons Sion à Prague, Convivium 2014, I, 1, s. 51–62.

Klára Benešovská, Dʼartistes exogènes en artistes établis: lʼexemple des Parleren Bohême (1356–1420), in: Jacques Dubois – Jean-Marie Guillouët – Benoit Van den Bossche (eds.), Les Transferts artistiques dans lʼEurope gothique. Repenser la circulation des artistes, des oeuvres, des thèmeset des savoir-faire (XIIe–XVIe siècle). Paris, A. a J. Picard 2014, s. 189–207.

Klára Benešovská (ed.), A Royal Marriage. Elisabeth Premyslid and John of Luxembourg – 1310, Praha, Muzeum hlavního města Prahy 2011.

Current projects:

Image/s in Přemyslid era: Contexts and Forms (GAČR 19-21654S) –co-investigator

Reflecting Jerusalem in Medieval Czech Lands (GAČR, 19-12859S) – co-investigator