Abstract
Jan Hozák, Petr Krajči
Invalidovna, August 2002: Per aspera ad astra
On Tuesday night of August 13, more than three-metre high turbid water inundated not only unique archive documents, drawings and photographs of the Archive of History of Technology, the Aviation Archive, and the Archive of Architecture, but also hundreds of exhibits and objects from the collections of other departments. The first week was decisive for the rescue of paper materials, although the relief and evacuation works had lasted for next two months -nearly till mid-October. The paper analyzes both the right and wrong decisions made on various levels, as well as the dynamics of relif works, extraordinary efforts of the collections´ staff and volunteers, and, at last, also the material and professional help, without which a great part of archive documents would have been, probably, destroyed.