On Thursday, 16 May, MUNI Day will take place at Bohunice University Campus. The largest university-wide gathering of Masaryk University students and staff is taking place for the second time.
From 9am, the campus will host a rich cultural and social program. In addition to the sports programme, culminating in the ‘Campus vs City’ floorball match, there will be dozens of other events, both indoors and outdoors. Advance registration is necessary for many of the events, for capacity and security reasons.
The Teiresiás Centre, MUNI’s support centre for students with special needs, will offer the opportunity to try special tandem bikes, handbikes, monoski, biski and dualski. “We will showcase some of the sports equipment that the university uses in the PE classes with students with disabilities or other limitations,” explained the Teiresiás Centre’s Alexandr Zvonek. “This equipment is available to the public, not only for blind people or wheelchair users but also for those with temporary disabilities. You can do sports even with a leg in a cast.”
The presentation of the IAESTE LC Brno student association is aimed at students who are considering a placement abroad or are currently looking for a job. This university-wide association operates under the auspices of IAESTE, and its members are students from various universities in Brno.
The programme of the Faculty of Arts will go back more than 2,000 years to ancient Greece and the beginning of the Olympic Games. Visitors can experience the Samuni Ancient Sports Day, featuring the sporting disciplines of ancient Greece and period replicas of sports equipment. “There will be a run with a shield, or hoplítodromos, a jump with weights and a discus throw,” said Natálie Vugrincová, a student at the Faculty of Arts who helped prepare the programme. “The programme will also include a guided exhibition featuring ancient Greek soldier’s armour and a simple game of astragalos, which was popular throughout history and the world.”
For those who want more of the ancient world, there will be a workshop on the world’s surviving ancient board games. Participants will learn about their history and symbolic meaning in their respective cultures and can play these games according to reconstructed rules.
The Gypsywood Players English-language theatre ensemble, from the Department of English and American Studies of the MU Faculty of Arts, will entertain visitors with comic scenes and short sketches from the most famous English plays. Members of the group will perform from 9.30am to 1.30pm.
The Masaryk University libraries have prepared an unusual joint presentation for the event under the umbrella name MUNI LIB. At their stand, they will offer an experimental bookface photo booth, a demonstration of virtual reality devices, a quiz on books and libraries, and sports activities with books.
The remaining programme will offer the MUNI BAZAR second-hand shop of clothes, shoes and accessories, and fun quizzes prepared by the University of the Third Age. There will also be a gastro zone, and DJ Štěpán Brück will mix rock, pop, dance and contemporary hits throughout the day.
MUNI DAY will also offer a unique opportunity to visit places that are not normally accessible to the public. These include the Anatomical Museum, located in the Faculty of Medicine. “The Anatomical Museum has been part of the faculty since its very beginning and the Department of Anatomy was the first building built on campus,” said Marek Joukal, Head of the Department of Anatomy. “It thus forms an important part of the entire university. The more than 600 exhibits on display make our museum comparable in scope to other such institutions around the globe. Many of the exhibits are original and now irreplaceable. Moreover, the Anatomical Museum is normally inaccessible, so the MUNI DAY is an exceptional opportunity to visit it with expert guidance from the museum staff.”
The laboratories of the Faculty of Science offer a similar opportunity to see the equipment used by future microbiologists in their training. “In our microbiology laboratory, you can be Alexander Fleming and Pablo Picasso at the same time,” said Jiřina Kučerová from the Department of Experimental Biology. “Everyone can try their hand at creating a picture using the Agar Art method, i.e. painting with microbial cultures, where artworks are created by cultivating microorganisms. In short, you can peek into the fascinating world of microorganisms that are all around us, and we will also show you the most modern methods that microbiologists use in their research.”
A Rector’s holiday has been announced for MUNI Day, so the university’s students and academics can use the time off from classes to attend the event. All other staff members are also welcome to attend and can make arrangements with their department heads. Advance registration is required for the sports activities and tours, as well as the accompanying programme on campus.
