BAM: The 2nd edition of the guide to Brno architecture is on sale

The book, which serves as a database of interwar architecture and at the same time as a guide to the city, was first published in 2012. Unlike the first edition, the second updated edition will also be available in regular book distribution. While the sale price in the buildings of the Palace of Art will be 380 CZK, it will be higher in bookstores. The book is being published in a print run of 2,000 copies in Czech and 2,000 copies in English translation.

For the second edition, the authors of the expert texts, historians Petra Hlaváčková, Šárka Svobodová, and Lucie Valdhansová, added information about the reconstructions and changes that occurred in the five years since the first edition. A new preface has been contributed by Rostislav Koryčánek, the author of the concept and the expert guarantor of the project. The practical information about public transport has also been updated.

The graphic design remains the same (Adam Macháček, Robert Jansa, Petr Bosák, Sébastien Bohner), thanks to which the publication won second place in the competition for the Most Beautiful Czech Book in the category of Scientific and Professional Literature in 2012.

The database accessible on the website bam.brno.cz has been gradually expanded to include the post-war period since 2017, which will be completed in 2019. Therefore, gradually new buildings are being added to BAM, such as the Janáček Theatre, the International and Continental hotels, and all the Brno housing estates. A total of 200–250 buildings will be added. The internet database and the book guide are expected to cover Brno architecture from 1918 to 1989 by 2019.

Alongside the second edition, worksheets for the first stage of primary schools featuring seven selected Brno buildings from the post-war period have also been created. Illustrations for children's coloring books were created by the artist and lecturer of the House of Art, Romana Horáková.

Brno Architectural Manual

The development of the Brno Architectural Manual, known as BAM, a popular guide to functionalist architecture, is ensured by the Palace of Art in Brno with financial support from the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic and the Brno City Hall. On the website bam.brno.cz you can find a database of nearly 400 objects of interwar architecture, which is being gradually supplemented with buildings from the period 1946–1989.

The database serves as a source of expert information and simultaneously as a guide to the city. You can choose from several pre-designed architectural walks and download an audio guide for free, narrated by Brno actors and personalities. The database contains hundreds of photographs and archival documents – planning documentation, historical photographs and maps, including supplementary notes on buildings and biographical sketches of architects. The routes with maps are also available in printed form as a map brochure, which is freely available at the Palace of Art, the House of Lords from Kunštát, and at the branches of the TIC. At the end of 2017, a reprint was also completed.

Following the example of the Brno architecture guide, similar projects are emerging in other Czech cities: in Plzeň it is PAM (pam.plzne.cz), in Litomyšl LAM, and KAM is also underway, this time in Hradec Králové.