Last reviewed 16 October 2026 · A three-minute read · 4444 BC–now
Prague's Old Town Square has held people since at least 4400 BC, witnessed executions of Hussite captains and Bohemian leaders, given the city its astronomical clock since 1410, and now houses the registered office of the European Association of Archaeologists, founded in 1994.
The short answer
The European Association of Archaeologists, a professional nonprofit founded in September 1994 at a meeting in Ljubljana, keeps its registered office on Old Town Square in Prague, inside the Czech Academy of Sciences building beside the Old Town Hall. It represents archaeologists from across Europe and holds participatory status with the Council of Europe.
1994 to 2003
An archaeologists' body is founded after the Berlin Wall fell
The European Association of Archaeologists, known as the EAA, is a nonprofit group for archaeologists across Europe. Its registered office sits on Old Town Square, right by the Old Town Hall and its famous astronomical clock. The EAA was founded in September 1994 at a meeting in Ljubljana, Slovenia, where its members approved its founding statutes. A piece written about the organization says it was founded after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The goal was to bring together archaeologists from Western and Eastern Europe, who had worked apart for decades under different political systems.
The EAA grew quickly. Kristian Kristiansen served as its first president, from 1994 to 1998. By the time Willem Willems took over in 1998, the group was building ties with European institutions. In 1999, the Council of Europe formally recognized the EAA as a professional organization. That status grew stronger in 2003, when the Council upgraded the EAA to participatory status, giving it a bigger voice in European heritage policy.
The EAA started handing out its own awards. In 1999, it created the European Archaeological Heritage Prize. The prize goes every year to a person, institution, or government that has done outstanding work protecting Europe's archaeological sites. Early winners included government ministers and museum directors. Over time the list grew to include conservation projects from Ukraine to Turkey.
2003 to 2020
A president calls Bosnia's pyramid claims absurd
Anthony Harding led the EAA as president from 2003 to 2009. During his term, the group took a public stand on a controversial dig in Bosnia. Promoters claimed hills near Visoko were ancient pyramids. Harding wrote to a British newspaper calling the claims "wacky" and "absurd." He warned the Bosnian government was failing to protect real archaeological sites while supporting the pyramid project.
Friedrich Lüth followed as president from 2009 to 2014. Felipe Criado-Boado led the organization from 2015 to 2021. In August 2020, Eszter Bánffy became president. Eszter Bánffy's own office works out of Frankfurt, Germany, while the EAA keeps its registered address here in Prague, inside the Czech Academy of Sciences building just off the square.
2020 to now
The Prague office runs journals and an annual heritage prize
Under Eszter Bánffy, the EAA kept awarding its heritage prize each year. In 2022, the committee honored Sophia Labadi for her work on cultural heritage and youth engagement in Mexico. In 2023, the prize went to Fedir Androshchuk, a Ukrainian archaeologist who worked to protect his country's heritage during the war with Russia. He had joined the EAA's executive board the year before. By 2024 and 2025, the committee was recognizing projects as varied as a national archaeology geoportal in Italy and a research lab studying ancient artifacts.
The office on Old Town Square keeps running the group's day-to-day business: membership records, the annual conference, and two publications. One is the European Journal of Archaeology, the group's main academic journal. The other is The European Archaeologist, a newsletter sent out to members twice a year. The EAA now counts more than 15,000 members from 75 countries on its rolls.
Step outside the EAA's door and you're on ground that has seen far darker days. Old Town Square, just beyond the Czech Academy of Sciences building that houses the EAA's office, was the site of a mass execution in 1621. Twenty-seven leaders of the Bohemian Revolt, nobles, knights, and burghers, were beheaded here in front of the Old Town Hall after their defeat at the Battle of White Mountain. Executions started at five in the morning. Their heads hung from Prague's gates for twenty years before burial inside the foundations of Týn Cathedral. Two centuries earlier, in 1422, the radical priest Jan Želivský was beheaded at a well in the Old Town Hall courtyard, a killing that set off riots across the square.
The EAA's office sits quietly above a square that has hosted scholars, executions, and seven centuries of Prague history.
The Old Town around this square was separated from its surroundings by a semicircular moat and wall, and developed as one of medieval Prague's core settlements.
Era background — not a record of this tile · Wikipedia: Old Town (Prague)
from 1410
The Prague Orloj, mounted on the Old Town Hall, has run since 1410, making it one of the oldest working astronomical clocks in the world.
In 1422 the Hussite preacher Jan Želivský, leader of Prague's poor, was executed at the well inside the Old Town Hall courtyard, and the square erupted in riots.
The astronomer Tycho Brahe died in Prague in 1601 and was buried inside the Church of Our Lady before Týn, right on the square; later tests found mercury poisoning in his remains.
On 21 June 1621, three noblemen, seven knights and seventeen burghers were publicly beheaded here after the Bohemian Revolt collapsed at the Battle of White Mountain.
The Bohemian-born engraver Wenceslaus Hollar made his 'Great View of Prague' in 1649, recording the city within a few years of the mass beheadings on this square.
On 3 July 1883 Franz Kafka was born in a building on the corner of Old Town Square near St. Nicholas Church, at the edge of what was then Prague's Jewish ghetto.
On 8 May 1945, in the last days of the Prague Uprising, Nazi forces burned the neo-Gothic wing of the Old Town Hall; the rubble was never rebuilt and a small park stands there now.
The EAA, now a continent-wide professional body for archaeologists, was founded in 1994 at a meeting in Ljubljana and keeps its registered office at this address.
What is the European Association of Archaeologists?
It is a nonprofit professional group for archaeologists across Europe, founded in September 1994 at a meeting in Ljubljana, Slovenia, to bring together archaeologists from Western and Eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Where is the EAA's office located?
Its registered office sits on Old Town Square in Prague, inside the Czech Academy of Sciences building, close to the Old Town Hall and its astronomical clock.
What happened at Old Town Square before the EAA was founded?
The square saw the 1621 beheading of twenty-seven Bohemian Revolt leaders in front of the Old Town Hall, as well as the 1422 execution of the priest Jan Želivský at the Town Hall well, long before the EAA made its home there.
Who has led the EAA as president?
Kristian Kristiansen served first from 1994 to 1998, followed by Willem Willems, Anthony Harding (2003–2009), Friedrich Lüth (2009–2014), Felipe Criado-Boado (2015–2021), and Eszter Bánffy, who became president in August 2020.
What awards does the EAA give out?
It has awarded the European Archaeological Heritage Prize annually since 1999, honouring individuals, institutions or governments for outstanding heritage protection, with recent winners including Sophia Labadi in 2022 and Fedir Androshchuk in 2023.
What does the EAA publish?
The organisation publishes the European Journal of Archaeology, its main academic journal, and The European Archaeologist, a newsletter sent to members twice a year.
