The Oriental Institute collaborates with universities across Czechia for teaching and training purposes and organizes public events and lectures.

[2] In 1929, the first issue of the scholarly journal Archiv Orientální appeared and, two years later, the Oriental Institute general library was opened.

Forty years later, in 1992, shortly before the partition of Czechoslovakia, the Institute became a constituent part of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.

Among the early scholars who contributed significantly to the establishment and development of the Oriental Institute were: Bedřich Hrozný (d. 1952), Alois Musil (d. 1944), Jan Rypka (d. 1968), and Moriz Winternitz (d.

Its researchers focus on the Arab world, Iran, Israel, Turkey, the Ottoman Empire, India, Southeast Asia, China, Japan, and the ancient Near East across multiple disciplines in the humanities and social sciences.