Faculty of Humanities, Charles University

The Faculty of Humanities is the youngest faculty of Charles University. Founded as the Institute for Liberal Education (Czech: Institut základů vzdělanosti) in 1994, the faculty gained full academic autonomy in 2000.

The first dean of the faculty was the former Minister of Education Jan Sokol. Sokol ran for President of the Czech Republic in the 2003 election but lost to Václav Klaus. He was replaced in 2007 by Ladislav Benyovszky. The current acting dean is Marie Pětová.

In 2013, Czech President Miloš Zeman refused to approve the professorship of anthropologist Martin C. Putna at the faculty for Putna's involvement in Prague Gay Pride in 2011. After numerous protests from academic and broader circles, Zeman capitulated. Putna was appointed by the Minister of Education Petr Fiala in June 2013.

The IZV was located in the building of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Legerová street. At the same time as the faculty was founded in 2000, it moved to the new building of the Charles University in U Kříže 8, Jinonice, Prague 5, with two separate facilities, one in Hůrka district, Prague 13, and another at Máchova street 7, Prague 2. The faculty moved to a new building in Libeň, Prague 8 in 2020. The new building won a national architecture award in 2021.

Two research and educational institutions are operating within the Faculty of Humanities: the Research Center for Personality Development and Ethnicity, the Rehabilitation Institute for the Visually Impaired, and the Cabinet for Civic Democratic Education. Its three-floor library is located beneath the university building on Jan Palach Square by Staroměstská metro station.