Portmoneum will shorten next season, it needs repairs

"We have the investment of 5.5 million Czech crowns covered in the budget. The regional authority will still announce the tender and set the final price. The project designer knows the building well, so there should not be any major surprises," said Línek.

Visible cracks can be seen on the house. Some are years old, while others are new and expanding. This year's dry weather has had a negative impact on the building's structural integrity. Therefore, there are probes on the object to help properly assess the extent of the reconstruction. An element of the reconstruction will also be the strengthening of the attic floors so that visitors can be allowed there in the future, Portmoneum stated on its website.

The Portmoneum is managed by the Regional Museum of Litomyšl and has belonged to the region since the end of 2016. It was purchased for 15 million crowns from the heirs of the original owner Ladislav Horáček, the founder of the Paseka publishing house. Horáček, an admirer of Váchal, bought the dilapidated house and completely renovated it between 1991 and 1993. It was home to the art collector and amateur printer Josef Portman.

Portman was friends with Josef Váchal, a versatile artist who was a painter, graphic artist, writer, poet, and sculptor. He asked him to decorate the house with paintings. Váchal depicted many spiritual and religious themes on the walls of the house and on the furniture. They are based on his life views and opinions on visual arts.

The museum was supposed to be called Váchaleum. However, everything fell through as the friends had a falling out. Portman incorrectly used Váchal's woodblocks for printing. Váchal, in turn, portrayed the miserly Count Portmon, who resides in Portmoneum, in his Blood Novel. He writes about himself in the book among other things as the printer Josef Pasek. The book consists of a first part with studies on the disreputable genre popular in the 19th century and a second part that is a sensational story to which Váchal, as a collector of "blood novels," pays tribute.