The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, abbreviated MŠMT, is a central government authority of the Czech Republic. According to its website, it is responsible for state policy in the education of children and youth, for preschool and school facilities, primary, secondary and higher education institutions, further education, science policy, research and development including international cooperation, academic degrees, and state care for children, youth and physical education.[1]
Scope of Competence
Its scope of competence is governed by the so-called Competence Act, i.e. Act No. 2/1969 Coll. The Czech School Inspectorate is subordinate to the ministry.[1] The ministry also coordinates the work of other ministries, central authorities and professional chambers in the recognition of professional qualifications and in obtaining qualifications through further education. In doing so, it relies on the Act on the Recognition of Professional Qualifications and the Act on the Recognition of Results of Further Education.[1]
In the John Amos Comenius Operational Programme (OP JAK), the MŠMT has a dual role. It is the managing authority that sets the rules for calls, and at the same time a recipient of funds that implements projects.[1]
The Ministry Building
The ministry's website devotes a separate section to the history of the building and to a list of ministers of education since 1848.[2] On the site of today's palace there originally stood three houses, which were architecturally joined around 1571 by Bonifác Wohlmut, an architect, builder and stonemason. One of them housed a theatre hall from 1700 to 1713, where German opera was performed. In the 1790s the houses were acquired by the Černín family of Chudenice, who had them rebuilt and unified in 1796 according to the architect Josef Zobel. Already as a single palace, it was inherited in 1800 by Princess Marie Pavlína of Hohenzollern-Hechingen.[2]
It was also owned by Peter Biron, Duke of Courland and Zaháň. From 1792 to 1800 he owned the Náchod estate, which Alois Jirásek portrayed in his novel Na dvoře vévodském. After his death the palace was used by his daughters, among them Catherine Wilhelmine of Sagan, known as the lady princess from Božena Němcová's Grandmother. In 1806 it was bought back from the family by her sister Marie Luisa Paulina, and it later also belonged to the Elector of Hesse.[2] In 1816 the palace was acquired by Duke Charles Alain de Rohan of the House of Bouillon and Montbazon. Under him, the palace received its present late Classicist appearance following a reconstruction between 1838 and 1841. It belonged to the Rohan family from 1816 to 1945.[2]
The building has two upper floors, and its wings enclose two courtyards. The attic gable bears the Rohan coat of arms. A rarity is a window with a Syrian arch. In the corners of the central wing there are niches with vases decorated with lion heads, and a bronze statue of John Amos Comenius, created in 1924 by Jan Štursa, stands there. The most interesting room is the Great Mirror Hall on the first floor, originally used for dances, with a pair of Corinthian columns, coffered ceilings and inlaid floors in the Classicist style.[2]