The restored Tugendhat villa has opened its doors to the first guests

photo: David Židlický

Brno - Today, the first guests visited the renovated Tugendhat villa in Brno. After two years, its heritage restoration, costing 156 million crowns, has been completed. Descendants of the original owners and members of the international advisory team that provided recommendations for the repairs also attended the grand opening. About 40 of them were involved during the restoration, and the city, as the investor, took them very seriously, said Ivo Hammer, the head of the team, an art historian, and restorer, to journalists today. He accompanied his wife today - the youngest daughter of the builders, Daniela Hammer-Tugendhat.
     According to Hammer, most of the recommendations were successfully implemented, often overcoming legal and financial issues. The work submitted by the restorers and the construction company meets the highest international standards, he stated. As an example, he mentioned that part of the original semi-circular makassar wall, which marks the dining area, returned to the villa after years. A researcher found the original, considered lost, by studying historical materials in the cafeteria of the law faculty.
     Mayor Roman Onderka (ČSSD) today called the result of the heritage restoration a fulfilled promise and fantastic work. He also defended the admission fee, which for longer tours is 350 crowns per person. According to him, the Tugendhat villa cannot be compared with other museums, and the entrance fee cannot be as high as that for heritage sites, where 100 or 200 people can fit at once during a tour. In the case of the Tugendhat villa, the tour group can number a maximum of 15 to 20 visitors.
     Dozens of guests, including Culture Minister Alena Hanáková (TOP 09), came to Brno today for the grand opening of the villa. The celebration was attended by Chairman of the Constitutional Court Pavel Rychetský, ambassadors, and rectors of Czech universities. President Václav Klaus canceled his originally planned visit. The monument will open to the public on March 6.
     The villa was designed in 1928 by the prominent German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and the owners moved in December 1930. Just a few years later, they left the country out of fear of Nazism.
     The director of the Brno City Museum, Pavel Ciprian, today described the architectural solution as radical. According to him, Mies eliminated the boundaries between rooms and the interior and exterior, thus influencing the architecture of the entire 20th century.