Map Prague, Czech Republic

Nelahozeves Castle with Bridge
Lobkowicz Palace with Prague Castle Sentries
Czech Republic

Study Abroad in Prague: Volunteer Opportunities

AIFS students are encouraged to engage with the local community through volunteering at a local high school and teaching English conversation. This is scheduled upon arrival in Prague.

Lobkowicz Palace and Nelahozeves Castle

AIFS students have the unique opportunity to apply for positions
as volunteers at the Lobkowicz Palace within the precinct of Prague Castle and at Nelahozeves Castle, 15km from Prague.

When the Czech Government passed the Restitution Laws in the early 1990s, the Lobkowicz family was able to regain their former properties, including Lobkowicz Palace and Nelahozeves Castle. William Lobkowicz and his wife returned from Boston to Prague nearly 20 years ago. They have reassembled most of the extensive family collection, which includes the oldest, largest, and most intact private collections in the Czech Republic. The collections feature world-famous paintings, ceramics, and arms and armor and include the finest private library in Central Europe, totalling over 65,000 volumes.

AIFS students have the unique opportunity to apply for one of two possible volunteer projects either at the Lobkowicz Palace or at Nelahozeves Castle. The work involves research, information preparation, translation, assisting with visitors and archiving. Students must make a formal application and must be interviewed for the positions available. Successful applicants must agree to work on a weekly basis throughout the semester for a minimum of 3 hours per week.

I. Volunteers at Lobkowicz Palace

Summary

  • Research and recommend publishers in France, Germany, and Italy that publish guidebooks to Prague and the Czech Republic.
  • Prepare information packets in the three languages.
  • Translate the English language materials into French, German, and Italian.
  • Greet visitors before they visit the galleries to assess expectations and afterwards to assess reactions and solicit recommendations.
  • Use on-site research to recommend the final packet of information to be mailed to publishers of the guidebooks.
  • Vary the routine by occasionally helping at the multi-language audio tour desk and assist multi-language visitors in the museum shop.

Requirements

  • Initiative without constant supervision.
  • Language skills in French, German, or Italian for the information packets and English for assessing reactions of visitors.
  • Enterprising eye to design appealing materials for the three language groups.
  • Volunteers must be available a minimum of three hours per week throughout the semester.

Practicalities

  • Volunteers would be a team covering the three languages.
  • Volunteers would be based at Lobkowicz Palace in Prague, although visits with foreign language visitors could also be made to Nelahozeves Castle outside Prague in order to include interviews at that location for the information packets.
  • Volunteers would have access to a computer in order to track data, do research, and prepare documents. They may also use their personal laptop.

Opportunities

  • Volunteers would be engaged in a specific but structured marketing initiative combining:
    • Visitor contact
    • Creative web research
    • Writing skills
    • Organizational skills
    • Subtle appreciation of cultural differences
    • Enthusiastic outreach to the indifferent tourist
  • Volunteers would have the advantage of research and outreach from an extremely well received museum experience

Follow-up

  • Once the initial project is completed, subsequent volunteers could follow up with the foreign publishers to gauge success in reaching the target audience for published material about collections.
  • Further projects could be developed for wide-ranging contact with British and American university and museum travel programs.

II. Volunteers at Nelahozeves Castle

Summary

  • Scan important Lobkowicz family photo albums from the 19th and early 20th centuries to create a database of pictures for archival and research purposes under the informal supervision of the Director of the Lobkowicz Collections.

Requirements

  • Initiative without supervision.
  • Language skills useful but not required.
  • Some knowledge of Czech or other languages may be useful to decipher descriptions and album labels.
  • Organized approach to keep track of scanning work completed and to cross-reference computer archive files by subject matter.
  • Understanding of scanning techniques and elementary photography handling and archiving.
  • Ideal for an enthusiastic student of photography.
  • Volunteers must work a minimum of three hours per week throughout the semester.

Practicalities

  • Space and equipment provided at Nelahozeves Castle outside Prague where the archives are based.
  • Short train ride from Prague to Nelahozeves train station, adjacent to the Castle.

Opportunities

  • Work with original photographic material and create the first-ever archive of this material for an extensive European collection.
  • Develop experience in handling archive photographs and photographic scanning processes.
  • Learn how to develop an archival research library of images under curational supervision for a major European collection.
  • Gain insight into historical documentation of period culture, life-style, fashion, and familial relationships.

Follow-up

  • Depending on the number of albums to be archived, this project could be continued by consecutive volunteers on the expectation that the quality of work, procedures and continuity of the project would be maintained from volunteer to volunteer.

III. Application for Volunteer Positions

Interested students should send an email to Marketa Lepicovsky, the AIFS Resident Director in Prague, to apply for either one of the volunteer projects. Students will be interviewed after arrival in Prague.