The Pardubice crematorium will be open on All Souls' Day, exhibiting works by Vladimír 518

Pardubice - On All Souls' Day, the Pardubice crematorium, which is a national cultural monument, will open to the public. Visitors will tour the facility, including the cremation furnaces. Also on display for one day will be glass works with funeral themes by architect Zdeněk Fránek and Vladimír 518. This was stated in a press release by Marie Jelínková, head of the funeral service division and crematorium. The Day of the Dead falls on Saturday, November 2.

The building, which celebrated its 100th anniversary last year, was designed by Pavel Janák in the style of national decorativeism, also known as rondocubism. This year, the tour of the crematorium will expand to include works with funeral motifs. The company Glaz Bridge is organizing an exhibition titled Dušičkový POP-UP. Selected locations in the Czech Republic will feature glass artistic urns, sculptures, and other artifacts. Among the exhibition locations is the Pardubice crematorium.

"The one-day exhibition provides visitors the opportunity to admire the work of architects such as Zdeněk Fránek and Vladimír 518, who bring a new perspective to the Czech architectural scene. Additionally, our collection offers an innovative approach to the representation of a memorial place, showcasing one of the possible ways to sensitively address the placement of remains," said Martina Sikorová, curator of the Glass Soul collection.

Tours are scheduled from 2:00 PM to 7:00 PM. "This time the tours will not be guided, but staff will be available throughout the crematorium to answer visitors' questions," Jelínková said.

The crematorium building was constructed by the company Karel Kohout and Jaroslav Krupař from August 1922 to September 1923. The crematorium has been in operation since September. At the foot of the main staircase, two lamp bearers by sculptor Karel Lenhart guard the building. The hall is 8.5 meters high and is decorated with paintings by František Kysela. The building has been a national cultural monument since 2010. In 1968, Juraj Herz filmed Spalovač mrtvol near the old furnaces.