The descendants of the owners will probably request the release of the Tugendhat villa

Brno - The descendants of the Tugendhat family, to whom the world-renowned functionalist villa Tugendhat belonged in Brno, are likely to request its return. Pavel Ciprián, the director of the Museum of the City of Brno, told ČTK today. Brno's mayor Roman Onderka (CSSD) also acknowledged this, having met with the family's legal representative on Wednesday. The villa, which now belongs to the city of Brno, has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001.
The descendants of the original owners of the villa are likely to request the return of the property based on the law on remedying property injustices caused by the Holocaust. The Jewish Tugendhat family left their interwar residence in Brno during World War II, shortly before Czechoslovakia was occupied by the German army.
Onderka told ČTK that he was visited by the family's legal representative on Wednesday, who informally discussed the future of the villa with him. "We parted with the understanding that if the descendants of the Tugendhats are interested, they can contact the leadership of Brno regarding this matter. No official steps in the form of a request for the return of the villa have been taken yet," the mayor stated. He did not want to comment on how representatives of the South Moravian metropolis would respond to a potential request.
Brno has long been planning to renovate the building, which is scheduled for next year. However, there is a problem with the tender for the project worth one hundred million crowns, which is now being investigated by the police as well as the antimonopoly office. The city council decided today to have all tenders related to the villa and the timeline of the work reviewed. The councilors did not discuss postponing the work.
The Tugendhat villa in Brno-Černá Pole was designed by the German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in 1928. Experts consider the building unique in its spatial concept, choice of materials, and furnishings. Its owners, Grete and Fritz Tugendhat, came from a family of notable textile entrepreneurs. They occupied the house until 1938, when the family emigrated to Switzerland and then to Venezuela to escape the Nazis. After the Nazis occupied Czechoslovakia, the Gestapo confiscated the villa.
The Tugendhats had four children: Ernst, who now alternates living between Germany and South America, Herbert, whose descendants live in the USA, Ruth, who lives in Zurich, Switzerland, and Daniela, who resides in Vienna.
This year, a record 17,000 tourists from around the world visited the Tugendhat villa. Compared to last year, there were 2,000 more visitors. The attendance at this architectural landmark has thus reached the highest possible level for the year. The most common visitors are Japanese, Americans, Germans, and Spaniards.
Tugendhat is the second significant heritage site in a short period for which the descendants of the original owners have expressed interest in its return. The great-granddaughter of Franz Ferdinand d'Este, who was murdered in Sarajevo in 1914, will request the return of Konopiště Castle.