Petr Sommer (born 30 November 1949 in

Rakovník Rakovník (, german: Rakonitz) is a town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 15,000 inhabitants. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument zone. Administrative parts Rakovník ...

) is a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places *Czech, ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

and

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

. He focuses on church archaeology, spiritual culture of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

and its reflection in archaeological sources.

Life and research

Petr Sommer studied

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

and

prehistory Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...

at the

Faculty of Arts A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In American usage such divisions are generally referred to as colleges ...

of Charles University in Prague and later he worked as archaeologist for the Museum of East Bohemia in

Pardubice Pardubice (; german: Pardubitz) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 89,000 inhabitants. It is the capital city of the Pardubice Region and lies on the Elbe River. The historic centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monu ...

and for the

City of Prague Museum The City of Prague Museum is located in Prague, Czech Republic. Langweil's Model of Prague is exhibited in the main building of the museum. Museum buildings include: Main Building, Podskalí Custom House at Výtoň, Ctěnice Chateau, Prague Towe ...

. In 1976, he started to work for the Institute of Archaeology of the

Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences The Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (Czech: ''Československá akademie věd'', Slovak: ''Česko-slovenská akadémia vied'') was established in 1953 to be the scientific center for Czechoslovakia. It was succeeded by the Czech Academy of Science ...

and he became its director (then already part of

Czech Academy of Sciences The Czech Academy of Sciences (abbr. CAS, cs, Akademie věd České republiky, abbr. AV ČR) was established in 1992 by the Czech National Council as the Czech successor of the former Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences and its tradition goes back ...

) the in 1993–1998. Then, he was the deputy director of the Centre for Medieval Studies in Prague (since its founding in 1998) and became the head in 2004. In his research, he studies the Christianisation of Přemyslid Bohemia,

monastic Monasticism (from Ancient Greek , , from , , 'alone'), also referred to as monachism, or monkhood, is a religion, religious way of life in which one renounces world (theology), worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work. Monastic ...

architecture, and life in monasteries in the

early medieval period The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages (historiography), Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They ...

. He led research into the oldest Czech monasteries (

Břevnov Břevnov () is a district in the west of Prague, located in Prague 6. The district is home to the Břevnov Monastery (Czech: ''Břevnovský klášter''). On the territory of Břevnov stems Brusnice brook. Břevnov was first mentioned in the 10th c ...

, Strahov, Ostrov near

Davle Davle is a market town in Prague-West District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 1,800 inhabitants. Administrative parts Villages of Sázava and Sloup are administrative parts of Davle. Geography Davle is located ...

Beroun Beroun (; german: Beraun) is a town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 20,000 inhabitants. It lies at the confluence of the Berounka and Litavka rivers. Beroun creates a conurbation with Králův Dvůr, former par ...

, Sázava). His work demonstrates his understanding of medieval studies as an interdisciplinary cooperation, in this case a cooperation between archaeologists, historians, and

art historians The history of art focuses on objects made by humans for any number of spiritual, narrative, philosophical, symbolic, conceptual, documentary, decorative, and even functional and other purposes, but with a primary emphasis on its aesthetic visu ...

in interpreting the arrival of Christianity to the Czech lands, and the related activities of the oldest monastic communities. He focuses special attention on the medieval Sázava Abbey and the associated figure of St. Procopius. Petr Sommer was recognized for his work many times, most recently receiving the ''Česká hlava'' National Prize for Science (2017).

Selected bibliography

* ''Krypta kláštera v Břevnově – Krypta des Klosters in Břevnov – The Crypt of Břevnov Convent – Krypta monastyrja v Brževnove''. Praha 1985 (with Dana Stehliková). * ''Sázavský klášter''. Praha : Unicornis, 1996. 62 s. * ''Začátky křesťanství v Čechách : Kapitoly z dějiny raně středověké duchovní kultury''. Praha : Garamond, 2001. 174 s. . * ''České země v raném středověku''. Praha : Nakladatelství Lidové noviny, 2006. 243 s. . (editor) * ''Svatý Prokop : Z počátku českého státu a církve''. Praha : Vyšehrad, 2007. 337 s. . * ''Přemyslovci : Budování českého státu''. Praha : Nakladatelství Lidové noviny, 2009. 778 s. . (with

Dušan Třeštík Dušan Třeštík (1 August 1933 – 23 August 2007) was a Czech historian. He specialized in medieval history ( Dark Ages (500–1000)) of the Czech lands and theory of history. Třeštík was born in 1933 in Sobědruhy, now a part of the city ...

and

Josef Žemlička Josef may refer to *Josef (given name) *Josef (surname) Josef is the surname of the following people: * Jens Josef (born 1967), German composer of classical music, a flutist and academic teacher * Michelle Josef (born 1954), Canadian musician and tr ...

) * ''Kostely na Sedlčansku''. Sedlčany : Městské muzeum Sedlčany, 2011. 165 s. .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sommer, Petr 1949 births Living people 21st-century Czech historians 20th-century archaeologists 20th-century Czech historians Czech archaeologists Czech medievalists People from Rakovník Charles University alumni Academic staff of Charles University