The reconstruction of the House of Art in Ostrava returns the building to 1926

Ostrava - The reconstruction of the interior spaces of the House of Art in Ostrava for nearly nine million crowns is nearing completion. After a six-month closure, the exhibition spaces will open to the public on January 13, featuring three exhibitions associated with the centenary celebration. The renovation, in some respects, returns the building to the time it opened in 1926. This was stated today by Jiří Jůza, the director of the Gallery of Fine Arts in Ostrava. The restoration concerns the ticket office, gallery shop, cloakroom, and restrooms.

The interior modifications include the modernization of the security system, the replacement of side doors and terrace doors, the installation of lighting fixtures, a new orientation system, making the back staircase accessible to visitors, and painting. The total costs, including equipment and project work, amount to 8.5 million crowns.

"For example, spherical light fixtures have returned to the front wall of the building and to the vestibule, whose soft light evokes the atmosphere of the 1920s. The entrance spaces will be complemented by new custom furniture and painting that respects the architectural intent of the time of its inception," described Jůza.

Restorer Dominika Kozera Dworoková, from the Gallery of Fine Arts in Ostrava (GVUO), conducted a color study and determined the original shade of the vestibule and staircase walls. "We found that the walls of the staircase were once covered with a smooth decorative plaster with multi-colored stone granules and a fine sheen typical of interwar interiors. In the House of Art, we left one exposed fragment so that visitors can also see the period appearance. In the future, we are considering gradually exposing and reconstructing the whole original design of the walls," added Jůza.

The construction work also revealed the ticket window at the entrance staircase and a window above the entrance to the garden. While the ticket window will no longer be used for selling tickets, it, like the window to the garden, will be preserved as an authentic architectural element, Jůza added.

On the ground floor of the House of Art, a gallery shop with seating has been created, which will offer publications on visual arts, architecture, and design, as well as small items with the visual identity of GVUO next year. A sculpture by Karel Malich, which the author worked on for nearly 50 years and which the gallery acquired for its collection in 2013, will be installed in the vestibule.

The gallery is a contributory organization of the Moravian-Silesian Region and has 24,000 art objects in its collection. The House of Art is managed by GVUO. It hosts exhibitions of older and contemporary art, design, and architecture, including educational and accompanying programs. It also manages an administrative building at Poděbradova Street 12, which houses a public library with a study room focused on visual arts and the documentation of GVUO exhibitions.