Reflection on Open House Brno 2026

A few dozen minutes ago, the ninth edition of Open House Brno became a thing of the past. Although the weather did not favor transitions between locations, this year’s main part of the architecture and urbanism festival recorded an increase in the number of tours and visitors. A total of 15,000 visitors visited 132 locations, undertaking over 50,000 individual tours. The overall opening hours of the festival venues exceeded 1,000 hours, and more than 160 festival volunteers and dozens of staff from the companies and organizations that opened their spaces ensured the successful course of the event.
However, Open House Brno is not over yet; the "Explores..." section will host a pop-up festival in Boskovice on May 30, 2026, from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM.
“We thank all festival visitors for their participation and their feedback, from which we perceive both appreciation for the work of ours and our volunteers, as well as suggestions for further development and improvement of the festival. There was immense interest, for example, in the Essler Spinning Mill, opened for the first time since the 90s, the apartment in AZ Tower, or Franz Pawl's Apartment. We are also very pleased that the festival has established itself as a meeting place for various forms of art, from architecture to visual arts, music, dance, and documentary creation, as well as a place for dialogue about different perspectives on public spaces and public services. I thank our entire organizing and volunteer team, and I am already looking forward to collaborating on the next edition,” comments the festival weekend by the festival's creative director Lucie Pešl Šilerová.

Highlights of this year's edition include:
- The highest number of visitors was recorded at the Alfa Passage, the Garden of Villa Tugendhat at dusk, and the Church of Blessed Mary Restituta.
- Among the reserved locations, the fastest reservations were for Franz Pawl's Apartment, Martin Koplík's Apartment, and Keller's Palace.
- During the festival, interviewers collected more than 700 questionnaires for a sociological survey on the impacts of the festival.
- According to the words of the mayor of the Židenice district, Petr Kunc, the choir loft of the Mourning Hall in Židenice was intended for the orchestra's performances, which, however, had never actually played there — the choir loft was first utilized for its intended purpose only this year during the Music and Architecture program as part of Open House Brno. The Brno Contemporary Orchestra performed pieces in honor of Ivan Ruller, the chief architect of the building.

“In addition to visitor numbers or reservation speeds, this year's edition is rich in human stories. Since last year, a new relationship has developed in our volunteer team that will soon expand with a descendant. During the tours, representatives from district leadership and civic initiatives discussed among themselves, citing examples of good practice in collaboration between both sides in preserving vegetation in Čertova rokli and when they prevented the devaluation of the architectural values of the housing estate in Lesná. Strong moments also included a commemorative act at the site of the burned synagogue at Spálená and Přízová streets, where the names of Brno's Jewish victims were also mentioned,” adds the festival spokesman Vratislav Vozník.
“We would like to thank not only the volunteers but also the building operators who promptly increased the capacities of individual tours. There was interest in the new Clarion Hotel, the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Administrative Court. We are grateful for all the suggestions from visitors and volunteers. It is precisely thanks to this that we manage to brainstorm new improvements every year for a more pleasant festival experience,” adds the manager of Open House Brno, Barbora Mikolášiková.