Tomáš Durdík, a specialist in castle architecture, has died

Prague - The prominent Czech archaeologist Tomáš Durdík has died suddenly at the age of 61. He specialized in Czech castle architecture, the material culture of the high and late Middle Ages, and the protection of monuments. The Czech News Agency (ČTK) was confirmed by the Archaeological Institute of the Academy of Sciences. In 2011, he became the first European archaeologist to receive the Europa Nostra award. This award is referred to in professional circles as the Oscar of the protection of European cultural heritage.
      Professor Durdík, according to experts, made an extraordinary contribution especially to the research, preservation, and protection of castles and fortifications that are part of the national heritage of the Czech Republic and former Czechoslovakia. In the 1970s, he led research at Prague Castle. Some of his most notable work includes research on the castles of Týřov, Křivoklát, Jindřichův Hradec, Vimperk, Pořešín, Kamýk nad Vltavou, Zlenice, and Orlík near Humpolec.
      Throughout his active career, Durdík worked at the Archaeological Institute of the Academy of Sciences. He lectured at the Faculty of Architecture of the Czech Technical University, the Faculty of Arts of Charles University, and also at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, where he chaired the Department of Archaeology since July 2012.
      Durdík was a member of many scientific councils in the Czech Republic and abroad, for example, a member of the scientific council of the National Heritage Institute, chairman of the Permanent Commission of the Ministry of Culture for the evaluation of cultural monuments, and chairman of the Independent Heritage Union. He was also the editor-in-chief and chairman of the editorial board of the Journal of the Society of Friends of Antiquities.
      In addition to approximately five hundred scientific studies and publications, among the most famous is the Encyclopedia of Czech Castles, he was the author of scripts for television series such as Castles Inhabited and Conquered (1991) and Shields of the Czech Kingdom (2007).