Růžena Vacková
Růžena Vacková (23 April 1901 – 14 December 1982) was a Czech art historian, art theorist, theatre critic and teacher. She also studied archaeology. Her father was a doctor and helped found the Czech Red Cross.
She went to school in Vyškov and Brno, finishing in 1920. She studied at Charles University in Prague, focusing on classical archaeology, history of art and theatre. After finishing her studies, she taught as a private associate professor of classical archaeology and became a full professor in 1946.
From 1934 to 1942 she published theatre criticism. From 1943 to 1945 she was imprisoned by the Czech Nazi puppet government. During this time she converted to Catholicism and after the war she joined Czech Catholic circles, working with Oto Mádr, Josef Zvěřina and others, influenced by Jesuit Tomislav Kolakovic.
In February 1948 she was the only Charles University faculty member to join the student march to Prague Castle in support of President Edvard Beneš. This drew negative attention from the communists. At the first post-February meeting of arts professors she protested the expulsion of students who had taken part, saying that the events were moral acts and not just demonstrations, and that she would share the fate of those expelled.
In the early 1950s the university banned her from lecturing. She was arrested in 1951 and in 1952 sentenced to 22 years for espionage and high treason in the Mádr case. She spent almost 16 years in prison, where she gave lectures to fellow prisoners. After her release she renewed her contacts with Zvěřina and Mádr. She was rehabilitated in 1969, but this was canceled two years later.
She later signed Charter 77. During the Normalization period she organized home seminars for mostly young people and gave lectures on spirituality and art history. She died in 1982.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 10:55 (CET).