Open days
Geologists on Every Continent
Open Days – Czech Academy of Sciences Week 2026
Venue:
Institute of Geology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Rozvojová 269, Praha 6 – Lysolaje
Date and time:
This year’s Open Days will take place on Wednesday 4 November and Thursday 5 November. Guided tours will start between 9 AM and 4:30 PM on both days. Thursday will be dedicated to a joint presentation of the entire Czech Academy of Sciences campus in Praha-Lysolaje, including the Institute of Experimental Botany, the Institute of Chemical Processes Fundamentals and the Institute of Geology. Visitors can therefore choose any combination of the participating institutes. Lunch will also be available for approximately CZK 120 by prior arrangement.
Contact:
RNDr. Radek Mikuláš, DSc., Phone: +420 222 087 219, +420 734 637 090, E-mail: mikulas
gli [dot] cas [dot] cz
Registration:
Registration is required for larger groups. Individual visitors without prior registration will be accommodated subject to availability.
Tour theme:
We will show you how researchers at the Institute of Geology of the Czech Academy of Sciences conduct fieldwork at fascinating locations around the world and how the samples they collect are subsequently studied in our laboratories. The tour usually lasts one hour.
What will you see and hear: The tour will begin with a short introductory presentation about the Institute of Geology, illustrated with photographs showing the wide range of our activities and the places where our scientists work. The visitors will learn about the research carried out across Europe, Asia, North America, Australia, Antarctica and Africa. We will present long-standing areas of geological research, including the study of fossils, minerals and rocks, as well as current research topics including geochemical contamination of the environment and the movement of volcanic ash. It is no coincidence that the Institute of Geology is also extensively involved in the Czech Academy of Sciences' Strategy 21 programme Natural Hazards.
Get hands-on with modern geology: The presentation will be followed by a tour of the Institute, with stops in several laboratories where the visitors can learn about the methods and instruments used in modern geological research. You will have the opportunity to sit at a microscope and examine real geological specimens, get acquainted with sophisticated scientific instruments for chemical analyses, or use models of extinct animals to reconstruct how ecosystems functioned long before the emergence of amphibians, reptiles, and mammals.
What will you take away: Perhaps you will leave with a fossil or a mineral specimen. Above all, however, we hope you will leave with the understanding that geology is far from being an outdated and boring science about “stones”. It is a dynamic and rapidly developing field that touches on many aspects of human life. You will probably be fascinated by the beauty of crystals revealed under a microscope, but you may also come away with a better understanding of how essential mineral resources are to modern society. In fact, modern civilisation cannot exist without the “stones” – raw materials used in the building industry, metals and individual elements needed by a wide range of industries. And perhaps you will also find yourself thinking about the future: unless we continue to study and understand geological, climatic and other global processes of the past, it will be difficult to navigate the challenges that lie ahead of us.
And finally: The beauty of the non-living world is best appreciated in nature itself. In previous years, we offered field excursions around Prague as part of Science and Technology Week, but November weather is not always ideal for outdoor activities. Nothing prevents you, however, from arranging a field excursion with us during your visit to the Institute – perhaps for spring 2027.
Photogalery from 2019:
Week of Science and Technology 2019
Photogalery from 2016:
Children 2016
Photogalery from 2015:
2nd November (field excursion in Řeporyje)
Photogalery from 2014:
6 to 7th November
Photogaleries from 2010:
1st Noveber (field excursion in Praha-Libeň)
2nd November (guided tour of the acid laboratory)
3rd November (guided tour of the main building)
4th November (guided tour of the main building)