The Liberec gallery is in a state of emergency, confirmed a survey

Liberec - The Regional Gallery in Liberec is in a state of emergency and urgently needs repairs. This was confirmed by a detailed architectural and historical survey that the building underwent in the past four months. Its results will serve as a basis for reconstruction. The building is infested with wood rot and woodworm, and the supporting ceiling structure between the second and third floors, above which part of the gallery's rare archive is located, is compromised. CTK was informed today by the gallery director Jan Randáček.
    The expert team prepared a list of 400 valuable elements during the survey, including an assessment of whether they can be saved. The report describes the poor condition of the building in 1,000 pages. "In the depository, we have a wet wall; when the thaw comes, it will be even worse," noted Randáček. According to him, resolving all the gallery's issues would cost about 250 million crowns. The cost of repairing the gallery building itself is estimated at 100 million crowns.
    In particular, the facilities of the building have long been inadequate to current requirements for exhibiting and storing artworks. Both the depositories and the electrical installations do not meet standards, and the facade, which the survey revealed was originally green, is losing its plaster. "We completely lack changing rooms, we don't have a gallery shop, classrooms, and dignified restrooms for visitors. Moreover, we are not an accessible institution," counted the director. The regional office should now decide based on the survey whether to announce a tender for a project developer. Repairs should begin as soon as possible; otherwise, the reconstruction will become even more expensive.
    The Neo-Renaissance gallery building was commissioned by factory owner Johann Liebieg to be built between 1871 and 1872. The gallery has been located there for 60 years, during which time it has undergone only minor adjustments.
    The Liberec gallery is the fourth largest in the country, attracting around 20,000 visitors annually. It owns rare collections of Dutch painting from the 16th century and French landscape painting from the 19th century, totaling 22,000 works of art. In addition to caring for the collections, it also provides specialized, cultural, and educational programs. For example, on Saturday, illustrator Eva Sýkorová-Pekárková, the author of the evening cartoon "About the Duck Matylda," will open her artistic laboratory for children there. She will teach them how to make movable animal puppets.