Fragner is a great architect and an influential personality, says Švácha

Prague - Among the most significant representatives of Czech functionalism is Jaroslav Fragner, after whom a Prague gallery focused on architecture presentation is named. Nevertheless, most people know him rather for his reconstructions of historical buildings. He succeeded in reconstructing a sacred structure, the Bethlehem Chapel, during the difficult 1950s. His significant mark is in Karolinum, the university's seat. "His amazing rectorship is one of the best Prague buildings of the 1960s," said architecture historian Rostislav Švácha to ČTK.

Fragner, a personality inspiring generations of architects, died on January 3, 50 years ago. Due to his attitude in the 1950s, when he refused to submit to the dictates of socialist realism, he was, according to Švácha, a highly respected figure. The historian recalls his contribution to the establishment of the metro in Prague.

"In the 1960s, there was a discussion about an underground tram. It could not be dug from a tunnel; buildings would have to be demolished, even in the historical core. Fragner vehemently opposed this, and even from his deathbed, he gave instructions to his students on what to do to ensure the metro's implementation," said Švácha. He acknowledges that the then Soviet Union, whose trains ran under Prague for a long time, undoubtedly had a strong influence on Prague's metro and its design. However, according to him, Fragner's influence on the relevant places was also substantial.

From the 1920s to the 1940s, Fragner built numerous villas in Central Bohemia in the style of functionalism and modern classicism. Some buildings deviate from classic Czech functionalism, leaning towards a more organic expression inspired by experiences in the USA and buildings like those by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Fragner was a member of the Purist Group, formed by students from the Czech Technical University. Since the 1920s, he also focused on other buildings - with a project close to realization and a team of avant-garde architects, he participated in 1927 in a competition for the building of the Czech Press Office on Opletalova Street. "The winning design is similar to the collective design of Devětsil, but the plans were signed by another architect, Václav Velvarský... But he definitely drew inspiration from it," says Švácha.

In Prague, a distinctive Fragner building is the Merkur Palace at the end of Revoluční Street, for which Prague has been trying to find a suitable counterpart for decades. Currently, Eva Jiřičná is working on this. The new building is also the Bethlehem Chapel with the house, where the Jaroslav Fragner Gallery is now located.

The site associated with Jan Hus was largely demolished later, replaced by another building. This was nationalized after the coup in 1948 and demolished, and at the suggestion of politician Zdeněk Nejedlý, the chapel was rebuilt as a monument to Hussitism, which the regime interpreted as the foundation of the labor movement.

"The Bethlehem Chapel is de facto a new building; only three peripheral walls have been preserved... but it is, in my opinion, a great thing," said Švácha. He also praises Fragner's reconstruction of Karolinum. "He started from an analytical method; he wanted to depict all the construction phases there, the Gothic one was covered by a Baroque reconstruction, and he uncovered Gothic fragments," he said. The analytical method was primarily applied by Czech heritage preservation between the 1920s and the 1950s. The Karolinum reconstruction lasted over 20 years and was completed in 1968.

Although part of Fragner's work falls into the communist era with its influence on all aspects of life, it did not affect the quality of his buildings according to Švácha. "Politically he was not in a bad position, on the other hand, he did not expose himself in promoting socialist realism; he had distance from it. He was the first to call the era of the early 1950s a maze of evil mistakes and errors in 1956. He had great authority; good architects always respected him," he stated. "What he designed in the 1950s is more neoclassicism; it resembles the official French architecture of the 1930s," he describes his late work.

The fact that Fragner is less remembered today, according to Švácha, may be related to the waning interest in functionalism. "I would say that today he is no longer among the hits; younger generations have shifted towards the 1960s and 1970s."