The department conducts comprehensive research on architecture and other art forms in the Czech lands based on geographically defined areas (i.e., not based on artists, themes and genres) from the Palaeolithic to the 21st century. Wherever possible or useful, research is contextualised within Europe. In this way, the department fulfils the task created by European (continental) art history in the 19th century, using methods similar to those used in other Central European countries such as Germany, Poland, Austria, Slovenia and Slovakia. Since its establishment in 1993, the department has focused on one of the Institute's research priorities, the Umělecké památky Prahy series, which concluded in 2017 with the publication of the sixth and seventh volumes. Currently, the department has two branches – a workplace in Prague and a detached office in Brno. Members of both branches are currently preparing the final volume of the series Umělecké památky Moravy a Slezska (R–Ž), while at the same time, they are working on the second long-term joint project Umělecké památky / Architektonický manuál / Praha. The database (Umělecké památky Praha) aims to create an architectural manual as an open, publicly accessible web source of professionally edited information on architecture and other art forms, which would publicise many years of professional research and at the same time become a professional but also popularising tool for learning about the architectural heritage of the whole country.
The members of the department take part in large collective projects, i.e. NAKI Gothic and Early Renaissance Art in Eastern Bohemia; 2016–2020 (Klára Mezihoráková, Dalibor Prix). They also participate in the Strategy AV21 in the Anatomy of European Society programme, with the research theme Patronage Activities of Women in Central Europe. Queens, Noblewomen, and Burgher Women; 2022–2026 (Klára Mezihoráková) and in the programme Resilient Society for 21st Century: Crisis Potentials and Effective Transformation with project Expulsion – Occupation – Revival / The Architectural Appearance of Ralsko in the Last Century and Current Perspectives (odolné ralsko), 2021–2025 (Ludmila Hůrková, Dalibor Prix). Recently, large interdisciplinary projects were successfully concluded, i.e. NAKI II, Changes in Rural Architecture with an Emphasis on Development in the 19th and 20th Centuries; 2016–2020 or the grant supported by Czech Science Foundation František Kalivoda (1913–1971 in European Context: Multimediality, Experiment, Avant-Garde and Neo Avant-Garde; 2019–2021 (Markéta Svobodová).
Important recent publications authored or co-authored by members of the department include the three-volume series Changes in Rural Architecture with an Emphasis on Development in the 19th and 20th Centuries (eds.: Ludmila Hůrková – Klára Mezihoráková, 2018, 2019, 2020); collective monograph Medieval Rural Churches in Eastern Bohemia. I. Hradec Králové Archdeaconry (up to 1378), 2020 (Dalibor Prix – Eliška Seiftová – Jiří Slavík); the third volume (in two parts) of Umělecké památky Moravy a Slezska series (eds.: Bohumil Samek – Kateřina Dolejší 3.1 a 3. 2 O/P, 2021); monograph KALI ARCH / FI-FO / TYPO. František Kalivoda (1913–1971): vize a návraty modernismu / modernist visions and revivals, 2023 (eds.: Jindřich Chatrný – Markéta Svobodová) or extended second edition of Encyklopedie architektů, stavitelů, zedníků a kameníků v Čechách, 2023 (Pavel Vlček – Pavel Zahradník et al.).
In cooperation with Artefacum Press, the department oversees the publication of art-historical guides (the series Monumenta Bohemiae et Moraviae) which are written in an accessible form and meant for the general public. The Department is also actively involved in activities of the Week of the Czech Academy of Sciences, the Science Fair in Prague and the Science and Technology Festival in Brno or the work experience programme for secondary school students the Open Science. Members of the department collaborate with several prominent institutions (including the Faculty of Arts at the Masaryk University in Brno, the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ustí nad Labem, Palacký University Olomouc and National Heritage Institute) and sit on several scholarly committees and journals’ editorial boards.
