The eastern wing of the Klementinum housed the Academy of Fine Arts from its founding in 1799 until 1886. It was in 1878 that the then eighteen-year-old Alphonse Mucha also applied to study at the Prague Academy. A week after his written submission of the application, with attached examples of his work, he received a harsh recommendation to choose a different life direction. Mucha did not give up so easily and for the first time in his life ventured to Prague, making his way right into the studio of Academy Professor Antonín Lhota. But he was not successful on his second attempt, either. The professor threw him out after five minutes, saying: ‘There are many painters, but there’s very little money. You’d best find other employment, where you can do better.’ (as quoted in the monograph by Jiří Mucha). By the time Mucha came back to the Klementinum in 1919 he did so figuratively, as a world-renowned artist. An exhibition was opened in the summer refectory, where people had the opportunity to see a part of the Slav Epic for the first time. Of the eleven finished paintings, five were exhibited, namely The Celebration of Svantovit in Rujana, the Abolition of Serfdom in Russia and the Hussite Triptych The divination of the Word. The premises of the summer refectory are now used as the General Study Room of the National Library of the Czech Republic.