The 700th birth anniversary of King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV has been designated as one of UNESCO´s important world anniversaries for 2016-2017. The Czech Academy of Sciences recreates the period of Charles IV at the exhibiton entitled Seven Towers. Charles IV through the eyes of academics (1316-2016) at the Science and Art Gallery. The visitors have an oppportunity to see the unique gold ducats with a picture of Charles IV. For this first time the most valuable archaeological discoveries of glass goblets are exhibited. Everyday items used by residents of the medieval city are also on display. The exhibition also shows a rare treasure of coins, which was hidden in the Emmaus monastery about 1370, as well as copies of the Constitutive Act of the Charles University, Charles´s Code Maiestas Carolina or late-medieval transcript of Charles´ Golden Bull. Personality of Charles IV is documented by commemorative coins, medals and seals bearing his image. Part of the exhibition is also a faithful copy of the statue of Charles IV from the Old Town Bridge Tower, the last sculptural portrait of the monarch before his death. and Marina Hužvárová.
In this issue, we feature an interview with the president of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (AS CR), Prof. Jiří Drahoš. The interview focuses on funding science and research at AS CR and the methodology that has become the universal tool for distributing money to the whole Czech science as a whole. On the basis of this government-conceived tool, the institutional financial grant for the AS CR should be reduced by about 50 percent by 2012. and Marina Hužvárová.