Institute of Experimental Medicine CAS

You will soon be able to visit the location of the original laboratories of the IEM CAS, known as Borůvka Sanatorium in Legerova Street. The place is historically significant due to the fate of student Jan Palach and parish priest Josef Toufar. There will be built a museum with a memorial and café.

 

The Borůvka Sanatorium, whose two buildings dating from 1882 were joined during reconstruction and completion in 1931, originally served as a private medical facility for the wealthy First Republic citizens. The sanatorium later became the Burns and Plastic Surgery Clinic. It was the place where the parish priest Josef Toufar died in 1950 due to injuries sustained during interrogations by the STB. Almost twenty years later, Jan Palach also succumbed here to burns after setting himself alight in protest at the crushing of the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia. A few years later, the building became the seat of the Institute of Pharmacology and the Institute of Experimental Medicine of the Czech Academy of Sciences.

 

The IEM CAS was officially established in 1975 by combining four medical research laboratories that were affiliated with the clinical departments of Charles University, namely the Department of Plastic Surgery, the Department of Ophthalmology and the Department of Otorhinolaryngology. The fourth laboratory was closely associated with the Department of Histology at the 1st Medical Faculty of Charles University in Prague, focusing on cellular ultrastructures.

 

Under the leadership of the renowned Professors Burian, Kurz, Přecechtěl and Wolf, the laboratories established themselves in the world of medicine and contributed significantly to the international recognition of Czechoslovak medical research.

 

You can find the complete history on our website.