In this issue, we feature two articles on the 120th anniversary of the Czech Academy of Sciences and the Arts. The first, written by Luboš Velek, director of the Masaryk Institute and Archives, describes several predecessors of the ASCR. In his article, Antonín Kostlán of the Institute of the Contemporary History focuses on the origin and development of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (1952-1992), which comprised research institutes, a learned society and a body of academicians and corresponding members. and Antonín Kostlán.