Merkel opened a new Bauhaus museum in Dessau

Dessau (Germany) – Today, in the East German city of Dessau, a new museum of the Bauhaus art school was ceremoniously opened with the participation of Chancellor Angela Merkel. The inauguration of the new building, designed by the Spanish architectural studio addenda architects, is part of this year's celebrations of the hundredth anniversary of the founding of the Bauhaus. A new museum was also opened in Weimar this spring, where the Bauhaus operated until 1925.

Hundreds of people did not miss the opening of the new museum today, and Merkel told them in her speech that for her personally, the Bauhaus was something of an aesthetic beacon during the times of divided Germany, as people were "surrounded by countless tastelessness" in the era of the GDR. According to her, it is good that the spirit of the Bauhaus remains alive thanks to the new museum.

The new building resembles a huge dark block surrounded by a glass facade. The museum, which cost about 30 million euros (over 780 million CZK) to build, will host a permanent exhibition dedicated to the Bauhaus's activities in Dessau, where the school was located between 1925 and 1932.

The Bauhaus was founded in 1919 in Weimar by architect Walter Gropius. The school brought together creators who, after the era of ornate Art Nouveau, emphasized simplicity, geometry, and function. Notable figures associated with the school included architects Hannes Meyer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, as well as artists Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Piet Mondrian, Lyonel Feininger, Josef Albers, László Moholy-Nagy, and Oskar Schlemmer. Among the Czech representatives, art theorist and artist Karel Teige lectured in Dessau.

The Dessau complex of school buildings – classrooms, workshops, dormitories, and the so-called masters' (teachers') houses – is today listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.