On a brisk November afternoon, the University community gathered on the lawn in front of Comenius Hall to rededicate the statue of John Amos Comenius, the great 17th-century Czech philosopher and Moravian bishop who’s considered the father of modern education.

Charles University in Prague first gifted the statue to Moravian College in 1960.

It was created by the renowned Czech sculptor Vincenc Makovsky. A copy of the same statue stands in Naarden in the Netherlands, where Comenius was buried in 1670. Another one is in the Czech city of Uherský Brod, believed to be Comenius’ birthplace.

Last Thursday, a delegation from the Czech community came to campus to rededicate Makovsky’s work. In the video above, Arnost Kares, the Consult General of the Czech Republic in New York, speaks about Comenius’ legacy, the statue of the philosopher behind him.