With deep regret, we announce that in the early morning on 8 April 2020, Prof. PhDr. Luďa Klusáková, CSc. passed away. She worked at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University, for more than 40 years and her endeavour significantly contributed to the forming of the Institute of World History, its scientific and pedagogical accomplishments and expansion of international contacts.
Prof. Klusáková graduated from two programmes, History and French, at CUFA. Briefly, she worked as a research assistant at Archive of Charles University; from 1978 until the present, she worked at CUFA. In 2000, she became the director of Seminary of World and Comparative History. She was expertly focused on the comparative study of cities’ modernization, their image in culture, and the use of cultural heritage and history as a strategy of local and regional development.
She contributed to the Institute’s engagement in eminent European research and educational projects, for example, international MA programme TEMA+ (European Territories: Heritage and Development). The French Government awarded her with the Order of Merit in Education, Science and Culture Chevalier de l´ordre des palmes académiques. Between 2010-2012, she was the President of the European Association for Urban History. In 2019, she was appointed the Foreign Member of Finnish Academy of Sciences for her exceptional scientific merits.
She was a person that with her unceasing energy repeatedly proved her research and organizational abilities, yet at the same time, she maintained a human and helpful approach to her colleagues and also students. She is dearly missed by all members of the faculty and academia, and by many foreign colleagues with whom she actively cooperated.
