Josef Zítek was not 'just' the author of the National Theatre

Prague - Architect Josef Zítek is considered the most significant Czech architect of the 19th century and also ranks among the most renowned architects in the country. His contribution to the construction of the Prague National Theatre is mainly credited for this distinction. This Sunday, August 2, marks the hundredth anniversary of the artist's passing, who is also the author of the museum in Weimar, Germany, and co-author of the Rudolfinum.
    It was during the commission for the State Gallery and Museum in Weimar, which he realized from 1863 to 1868, that Zítek gained international renown. Throughout 1863, he personally oversaw the construction, but the following year he returned to Vienna, where he obtained a building license and accepted a professorship at the Prague Polytechnic in the same year.
    At that time, the Assembly for the Establishment of a Czech National Theatre in Prague was already deliberating whom to assign this prestigious commission. Since the public competition ended unsuccessfully, the commission directly approached Zítek. This aroused discontent among some of his colleagues, and thus, although no competition was announced, the commission received two additional proposals. The assembly therefore requested assessments from foreign experts, among which Zítek's proposal ranked the highest. The approached experts were, however, a pair of Viennese architects, Eduard van der Nüll and August Siccard von Siccardsburg, with whom Zítek had studied and briefly worked.
    From 1868 to 1881, a monumental Neo-Renaissance building of the theatre rose along the Vltava River under Zítek's design and his supervision. However, in August 1881, during finishing works, it caught fire. Subsequently, Zítek entered into a dispute with the assembly and refused to participate in the reconstruction. Therefore, the assembly entrusted the completion to Zítek's student and collaborator, Josef Schulz.
    Together with Schulz, Zítek had already been involved in another significant Prague building - the Neo-Renaissance Rudolfinum. The prestigious competition for a unique multipurpose cultural house in the Czech Republic was reportedly won by them despite violating the assignment. According to their design, one of the most beautiful buildings of the nineteenth century was created, which ahead of its time by several decades, according to many experts.
    However, Zítek did not build only in Prague. Among his most notable realizations in Bohemia is particularly the Karlovy Vary Mill Colonnade from 1871 to 1881. He also signed the design for the main building of the brewery in Petrohrad near Louny, the excursion restaurant near Jindřichův Hradec, the former town hall in Humpolec, the facade of the school building in Děčín, and he is also the author of the tombstone design for Karel Havlíček Borovský and his wife Julie. Together with Schulz, he participated in the Neo-Gothic reconstruction of the Sovovy mlýny in Prague.
    Later on, a leading representative of the Neo-Renaissance style, Zítek was born on April 4, 1832, in Prague's Karlin to a cobbler and a laundress. He trained as a bricklayer, studied at the Prague Polytechnic, and in the revolutionary year of 1848, he also joined the student legion. Later, he went to Vienna, where he enrolled simultaneously at the Polytechnic and at the Academy of Fine Arts. In 1857, he received an award for his project of a parish church at the Academy of Fine Arts exhibition in Vienna, and a year later, he was granted a state scholarship for a study trip to Italy, which significantly influenced his later work.
    Besides his studies, Zítek worked for several notable Viennese architects and in 1862 received another scholarship, this time for a journey to France, Germany, and Belgium. In Brussels, he then secured his first major commission, for the reconstruction of Bečov Castle in the Karlovy Vary region.
    Although Zítek predominantly spoke German, he was considered a great patriot. After a conflict at the National Theatre, he ceased working on his own designs, but served as a consultant for various projects, such as the completion of St. Vitus Cathedral or modifications at Karlštejn Castle. Above all, he educated numerous successors, sought out and supported talents. He also contributed to the preservation of many monuments.
    The last decades of his life were mainly spent at his castle and estate in Lčovice in the Prachatice region, which he bought from his father-in-law (he married Berta Lippertová in 1881). By the way, his estate allegedly was the first in the monarchy to introduce the packaging of processed cheeses in tin foil. A year before his death, he was awarded the title of baron by Emperor Franz Joseph I. He is buried in Malenice, a village near Lčovice.

Neues Museum in Weimar (1864-69)