Emperor Charles IV 1316–2016

The Czech-Bavarian exhibition, marking the 700th anniversary of the birth of the outstanding ruler, who has gone down in history as one of the most generous patrons of arts as well as one of the most often depicted monarchs in mediaeval Europe’s history, will present an exceptional selection of artifacts from his era first in Prague and then in Nurnberg. With the K*700 logo we have therefore looked to creating the simplest of symbols, a one that would suit the multilingual environment of the project. From the start it was designed to work well with the main exhibition visuals and their large details while standing out in the array of activities of the Carolinian anniversary. The logo consists of a large antique K, an asterisk and number set in “jumping” digits to give its composition an adequate tension. The star, a symbol of birth, has its unique shape based on the morphology of the Charles IV.’s royal crown from the Votive painting of Jan Očko of Vlašim and is loosely inspired by the starry ceiling of the Chapel of the Holy Cross at the Karlštejn castle. Seven points of the star represent the seven centuries. The exhibition takes place in the Waldstein Riding School in Prague (15 May — 25 September 2016) and in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg (20 October 2016 — 5 March 2017).