FCE BUT

The Faculty of Civil Engineering is the largest and oldest faculty at Brno University of Technology. The establishment of this university was predated in 1849 by the foundation of the Czech-German Technical Institute in Brno, which in 1873 was named the Technical University.

On 19th September 1899 this school was transformed into the Imperial and Royal Franz Joseph Czech Technical University in Brno, which was founded by the highest decree of His Royal Highness the Emperor and King Franz Joseph I. Tuition began on 1st November 1899 , and was actually in the field of civil engineering. From the year 1900 tuition was extended to include the field of mechanical engineering and a training course for land surveyors (geodesists).

Tuition took place in several rented buildings in Brno, in particular from 1902 those found in the streets then named Augustinská St (now Jaselská St, in the buildings 2 Jaselská St and 9 Jaselská St), Falkensteinerova St (7 Gorkého St) anf Giskrova třída (now Kounicova St). The conditions for teaching offered by these rented and dispersed premises were mostly unsuitable, and so the teaching staff attempted to obtain buildings that the university could own and use. In November 1901 sthey managed to buy a land parcel on Veveří Street (then Veverská St) for the construction of the Czech University of Technology in Brno, which began in October 1907.

In June 1911 the new buildings housing the Franz Joseph Czech Technical University in Brno were ceremonially opened on Veveří Street.. Three new structures had been built, and tuition had already begun within them in 1910. The university library was provided with rooms on the ground floor of the right wing of the main building, as well as basement rooms where the book collection could be stored. A chemistry pavilion was then built on Žižkova Street, where tuition began in 1920.

In the years 1918–1937 the school carried the name Czech Technical University in Brno. In 1937 the university presented the then president Dr. Edvard Beneš with an honorary doctorate, and from that year the school was named the Dr. Edvard Beneš Technical University in Brno. However, in autumn 1938 the original name of Czech Technical University in Brno was returned to the school.

During the Second World War, Brno’s Technical University was closed,as were all the other Czech universities. After 1945 the school was reopened under the name VDr. Edvard Beneš Technical University in Brno. Tuition in all of the principal fields of study recommenced at the faculties of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Building Construction, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, and in the field of Chemical Engineering.

In 1951 the university was closed and moved out of the building on Veveří Street, being replaced by the Military Technical Academy. Most of the lecturers transferred to the new Military Academy. The university library was nationalised and became the public State Technical Library. That year had not yet passed before the successful foundation occurred of Brno Construction University with two faculties – the Faculty of Construction Engineering and the Faculty of Architecture and Building Construction. The Faculty of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering was incorporated into the Military Technical Academy.

On 24th July 1956, Brno University of Technology was founded with three faculties: the Faculty of Civil Engineering (FIS), the Faculty of Architecture and Building Construction (FAPS) and the Faculty of Energy (FE). In 1960 both construction faculties (FIS and FAPS) were merged within BUT into the Faculty of Civil Engineering. An independent Faculty of Architecture was established at BUT in 1976.

From 1951 up to the year 1992 tuition in civil engineering took place in many buildings dispersed across Brno, e.g. on Barvičova St, Poříčí St, Veslařská St, Gorkého St, Jaselská St, and Sady osvobození St (now Koliště St). In 1991 an agreement was signed between the Rector of BUT and the Rector of Brno Military Academy regarding the return of the historical buildings on Veveří and Žižková Streets to Brno University of Technology. In 1992 this site was given to the Faculty of Civil Engineering, which was thus able to return to the original premises where the history of both the FCE and BUT itself began. However, the whole site was returned in a rather devastated state, necessitating wide-ranging reconstruction and repairs.