This diploma thesis concerns the iconography of early Buddhist art in India, especially in the region of ancient Gandhāra. It follows the development of representation of Buddha and bodhisattva from an aniconic type to establishment of anthropomorphous form during the reign of the Kushaṇas. It outlines the influence of the Hellenistic world on this form and tries to give a summary about the mixture of the symbolic and stylistic patterns as well as their further development in the later Buddhist art.

and keywords The thesis discusses the depiction of selected plant species in Roman and Early Christian art and further shortly deals with most considerable elements of vegetable ornaments and its development. The diploma work turns to symbolic meaning of the plants in connection with a religion and mythic tradition. First and second chapter pursue the depiction of herbs and trees (bushes) on mosaics, frescoes and relief-sculpture. In the third part the attention is paid to the significant elements of vegetable ornament: palmette, rosette and acanthus. Sometimes representations of plants from older period are mentioned for the sake of better explanation of their symbolic context (ancient Egypt, Greece). The thesis gathers information from writings of antique authors, in chapters dealing with Christian period from Bible and apocrypha, as well as from modern works related to the problematic. An objective of the thesis is to cover the differences in symbolic meanings of plants after an oncoming of Christianity, to determine, whether those plants were depicted onwards and in which context.

We can consider the sculptural decoration of first Czechoslovak Republic's administrative buildings to be one of the typical manifestations of its time. In its iconography it translated to its contemporaries, as well as to the future generations, the basic ideological motives which the representative, artists and major part of the society considered to be the most important for the existence of the young democratic state. Their message is so clear that even today it can be understood. This thesis discusses in the first chapter the roots of basic iconographical circles (labor, working people) in the Czech art of the end of 19th and beginning of 20th century. Afterwards it focuses on the wider conditions of European art leading to the growing interests in realistic, neo-classical art and new objectivity. Following parts are aimed on arrival of civilism into the Czech interwar art scene and discuss the terms social art, social realism and social civilism and its possible use in the scope of sculptural decoration of administrative buildings. Then continues the overview of the most important iconographical motives which penetrated into the field of the sculptural decoration with special focus on the Czechoslovak pavilion at the International exhibition of decorative arts in Paris 1925. The following...

This thesis aims to study and describe the evolution and transformations of female archetypes appearing in the production of symbolist art movement during the time period 1880 1914. It focuses on all used variants of symbols and personifications of womanhood, and it tries to present the complete iconographic overview. The main goal is to learn whether symbolists were using maily symbols of a destructive antiheroine or whether there was a wider spectrum of positive and honorable female icons. There are also examples used from the decadent literature which include those symbolic figures.

The thesis interprets the icon Transfiguration by Theofan the Greek. It collects the information needed for the interpretation. The first part is devoted to the meaning of a religious picture - an icon in the context of historical development of Byzantine art and Christian thinking. It presents Theofan the Greek as the author of the icon and the doctrine about the uncreated nature of the Light of Tabor, that emerged in his time and might have influenced his work. The second part is devoted to the nterpretation of the Transfiguration icon. It consist of an explication of the biblical texts which are related to the Transfiguration and reflects other possible resources of depiction: apocryphal texts and liturgy. The conclusion of the thesis holds the interpretation of the icon.

The diploma thesis deals with the forms of self-representation of the last Rosenbergs. They were using the representations to support their political positions. The paper is based on a study of the panegyrics and symbolic decorations of the Rosenbergs' castles that were used to present the virtues of the Renaissance nobleman. The study analyzes Roman motifs of the Rosenbergs' propaganda. It tries to capture the views of particular individuals on selected ancient motifs from representation of the Rosenbergs. Ancient exempla presented the Rosenbergs by using the language of symbolic communication as Christian knights.

Following diploma thesis is focused on decorative motifs of Achaemenid small-scale art. Borders of the Achaemenid Empire stretched from the river Indus to Bulgaria and from Egypt to the Black sea. It was associated with dynasty of Persian kings, who ruled over the empire between 559 - 331 BC. During its existence a characteristic art with its own style and iconography was formed. The main aim of the thesis is to present iconographical analysis of decorative motives appearing in Achaemenid small-scale art. Due to the vast range of decorative motives thesis is focused only on motives of animals. The analysis is conducted on diverse spectrum of objects included in studied collection. It consists of 397 objects namely jewellery, plaques, bracteates, toreutics, coins, stamp and cylinder seals and their impressions, horse-harness strap dividers, weapons, scabbards and scabbard tips and small scale sculpture. These objects are decorated with total of 822 animal motives, which are sorted into six chapters. The introduction is followed by second chapter, in which beasts of prey are described. Here belongs lion, dog, fox, leopard and other beasts of prey without more specific interpretation. Next chapter includes motives of wild animals where ibexes, gazelles, deer and wild boars. In the following chapter...

Progression view of Olomouc town in the visual art Thesis is engaged in the development of Olomouc town, displaying the visual arts from past to present. It shows transformations of the significant Olomouc cultural relics, and general views of the town on the particular arts in the progress of centuries, and supplies it with a brief history. This work notices art design of individual views of the city, and uses a comparative method according to the time when these views were taken. It mentions the changes of form and conception of the view of Olomouc town, and presents the recent artist production intercepting a town panorama, sights or its parts in their works. In conclusion it judges an arts portraying Olomouc town, which are valuable to arts in the Czech and development in region as well.

Vítězslav Prchal War, Arms, and Armour in the Representative Strategies of Bohemian and Moravian Aristocracy, 1550-1750 dissertation thesis, 2012 In Czech historical writing, history of aristocracy has been on a rise ever since the turbulent days of 1990s. It has always been characterized by application of various methods borrowed form different other fields, such as cultural or social history as well as historical anthropology, and its primary goal was to understand the mentality of the specific social class that is early modern aristocracy. Throughout time, several approaches emerged form the initial probing: first, study of political culture and power; second, study of aristocratic courts and residences; and, third, study of aristocratic family and its life-cycle. All this research was originally focused on 16th century aristocracy; however, it also successfully tackles topics of late 17th and 18th century in recent years as well. Study of aristocratic residences especially has quite a long tradition in Czech historiography, following the lines of socially interpreted art history. On the other hand, as military history is a rather neglected part of writing on the early modern era, this problem transpires into the connection of warfare and aristocracy in 16th to 18th century. For example, not...

The Diploma thesis "Devotion and iconography of st. Mary Magdalen" - Two biblical characters have been associated with Mary Magdalene since the time of Gregory the Great; the unnamed sinner and Mary of Bethany. According to the Bible Mary Magdalene was one of the women who accompanied Jesus during His ministry. She was the woman from whom Jesus had cast out seven demons. She washed Jesus' feet with her tears and ointment. When Jesus was crucified she was there standing under the cross. She was present at His funeral. On Easter Sunday she went to the grave of the Lord to anoint His body. She discovered the empty tomb and saw the resurrected Jesus, who appeared to her as a gardener and sent her to announce His Resurrection to His disciples. She is considered "the apostle of the Apostles". According to an old French legend she was put in a boat without sails or oars and sailed to Marseilles, where she preached the gospel. Then she retreated to a cavern. There she lived as a recluse for thirty years. Every day she was lifted by angels up to heaven. She was buried in Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume. Her main cult centers were the places where her relics had been preserved; Vezelay in Burgundy in the Romanesque period , and Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baumesince since the 13th to 18th century. She is usually...