Architect Jaroslav Fragner created with enchantment

Prague - He is one of the most significant creators of Czech functionalism. His highly aesthetic buildings, which stand out due to their timelessness, extraordinary functionality, and attention to detail, can be found in Kolín, Nespeky, or Prague. The life project of architect, furniture designer, and educator Jaroslav Fragner, who will commemorate his 110th birthday on December 25th, was the reconstruction and completion of the Karolinum in Prague.
A love for architecture, initially influenced by Cubism and later Functionalism, accompanied the Prague native throughout his life and did not abandon him even during the times of official communist culture, when he focused mainly on the reconstruction of historical buildings: the restoration of the Bethlehem Chapel and the adjacent Preacher's House, as well as modifications at Prague Castle. Although some of his realizations from this period are met with reservations, Fragner's contribution to the Karolinum - the university building with a ceremonial hall and the rector's residence - is highly regarded.
The long-term reconstruction and completion of the Karolinum complex took place in stages from 1946 to 1975. Fragner sought to expose the original medieval core of the building and to utilize every preserved Gothic element, complemented by modern features and decoration. He attached a new rector’s wing to the old boarding house, creating a new monumental whole. However, he did not witness its final form, as he passed away on January 3, 1967.
An exceptional architect, a rare person - this is how Fragner was regarded by his contemporaries. Jiří Novotný wrote about him: "He lived, worked and operated in a kind of intimate spiritual reserve, without barbed wire and warning signs, surrounded only by a light fence. From there, he ventured out every time something significant was at stake and only let the meaningful in." Perhaps this fulfilled the idea that Fragner expressed in one of his notes: "An architect can only fulfill his task when he is captivated by it - enchanted."
The 1920s and 1930s in Czechoslovakia resonated with the spirit of interwar avant-garde, greatly influenced by the father of modern architecture, Le Corbusier. His principles of purism and functionalism resonated with a young architecture student who became acquainted with Karel Honzík, Vít Obrtel, and Evžen Linhart (the so-called Purist Four) at the Czech Technical University in Prague, with whom he sought new paths for Czechoslovak architecture. However, due to the unsatisfactory conservative atmosphere, he did not complete his studies and transferred to the Academy of Fine Arts under Professor Josef Gočár.
After a period of seeking new forms, documented by early sketches in the style of dynamic cubism and later purism, he turned to the avant-garde architecture of constructivism and functionalism. A key moment in Fragner's work was the design of the Nursing Pavilion at the hospital in Mukachevo in Subcarpathian Rus (1928), which became one of the first modern buildings in Central Europe. During his most productive years, Fragner maintained contacts with the German Bauhaus school, was a member of the artistic association Devětsil, created bold, formally and content-wise timeless modern architecture, and unlike most functionalists, he liked to use color or at least a color accent.
In Kolín, he designed - now an inseparable symbol of the city - the ESSO thermal power plant (1932), which was crowned by the tallest chimney in Bohemia at the time and became famous through the black-and-white photographs of Josef Sudek, Jaromír Funke, and Eugen Wiškowski. He also built a modern villa for the plant director Václav Budil (1931) and a remarkable building for the Tatra Skoch shop (now Mountfield), which catches the eye at first glance due to its dynamic terrace motif.
Fragner's other functionalist buildings can be found in Kostelec nad Černými Lesy, in Český Těšín, or in Nespeky, where he designed several small weekend houses for his relatives, including his wife, dancer and choreographer Milča Mayerová, and friends, which reflected insights from Fragner's journey through America (1935) and inspiration from the works of Frank Lloyd Wright and Alvar Aalto. He also established himself in Prague with the realization of the Merkur Palace on Revoluční Street (1936). Many of his designs, however, remained only on paper, such as the acclaimed project for the parliament in Letná from 1946.
After Gočár's death in 1945, Fragner took over the management of the AVU School of Architecture, where he trained a whole array of excellent architects (such as Alena Šrámková and Eva Jiřičná). The last president of the Mánes Artistic Association was a prototype of a person who combined the tradition of the avant-garde and the continuity of the First Republic. He is now considered a symbol of the continuity of domestic pre-war and post-war architectural development. His "good" name also patronizes one of the few Czech galleries presenting architecture.