The bust of Hlávka will fill the last place in the Pantheon of the National Museum

Prague - The bust of architect, builder, and patron of Czech science, art, and education Josef Hlávka will fill the last spot in the Pantheon of the National Museum. Historian František Šmahel, chairman of the organizing committee of the Foundation for the Gift of Josef, Marie, and Zdeňka Hlávka, which is the main organizer, stated this at today's press conference ahead of the anniversary year, marking the hundredth anniversary of Hlávka's death on March 11.
According to Šmahel, the greatest contribution of patron Hlávka to science was the establishment of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Literature, and Arts. This was preceded by significant financial donations to Czech universities and engineering. However, one of the richest Czech businessmen of the Austro-Hungarian Empire spent his money wisely, not frivolously. "In this sense, he was a true wealthy miser," the historian noted.
Establishing the Foundation for the Gift of Josef, Marie, and Zdeňka Hlávka in 1904 was a fateful decision, through which he bequeathed all his property in his will. That same year, Hlávka's college was also put into operation, which, along with Hlávka's bridge, still reminds the public of the patron today, even though the bridge shares only a name with him.
The creative activities of architect and builder Hlávka enriched the cultural heritage of the nations of the Czech Republic, Austria, and Ukraine. In Vienna, he constructed the Court Opera according to the project of Eduard van der Nüll and August Siccard von Siccardsburg. He also built and designed churches, palaces, museums, schools, commercial and residential buildings. He received many honors and awards for his activities, including the second main prize for architecture at the World Exhibition in Paris.
In Prague, Josef Hlávka designed and constructed the Building of the State Maternity Hospital, a complex of buildings on Vodičkova Street. After the great flood in 1890 when part of the Charles Bridge collapsed, he advocated for its restoration to the original form from the time of Charles IV.
Hlávka's most famous and extensive architectural work, which he designed and constructed himself, is a complex of buildings for the metropolitan of the Greek Orthodox Church in the capital of Western Bukovina, Chernivtsi. It is now home to one of Ukraine's ten most famous universities.
Hlávka’s impressive work will be commemorated by the anniversary program, which offers conferences on architecture, financing science and the future of foundations, lecture cycles, the ceremonial unveiling of Hlávka's bust at the National Museum, concerts, workshops, and exhibitions. The Czech National Bank will issue a silver commemorative coin.
The anniversary year has been prepared by the Hlávka Foundation together with the Czech Academy of Sciences. The organizers invited many other institutions to collaborate, including Charles University, the Czech Technical University, the National Museum, the National Gallery, and the Czech Philharmonic. The patronage was taken over by President Václav Klaus and the Czech Commission for UNESCO. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) included the date of Hlávka's death among this year's world cultural anniversaries.