Československá egyptologie ve světě studené války – doba Zbyňka Žáby

Zbyněk Žába’s (1917–1971) anniversary reminds us of several decades of history of Czechoslovak Egyptology which was tied very closely to individual scholarly biographies and only relatively recently obtained an institutional history. Aspects of the life of Žába, who was sometimes viewed as a controversial figure, are set against the backdrop of coeval events. The contribution highlights some paradoxes inherent to a work of an international scholar tied to a country on the Soviet side of the Iron curtain, including his attempts to balance the requirements of a national institutional scholarship and the inherently international character of his discipline. The foundations for the Czechoslovak Institute of Egyptology were laid successfully in the complex period of the late 1950s.