The renovation of the Brno villa Stiassny will cost 179 million

Brno - A Center for the Restoration of 20th Century Architectural Heritage will be established in the reconstructed Stiassny Villa in Brno. The Minister of Culture Václav Riedlbauch handed over today in Brno the decision to the General Director of the National Heritage Institute (NPÚ) Naděžda Goryczková regarding the granting of a subsidy of 179 million for the project.
    The National Heritage Institute has obtained funding for the establishment of the center from the European Regional Development Fund (85 percent of the mentioned amount) and from the state budget (15 percent). Thanks to the subsidy, the villa and its grounds will be completely reconstructed from 2010 to 2012.
    The aim of the project is to create a research and documentation platform for the so-called architectural modernism. "We will essentially be pioneers. I believe we are capable of attracting experts from all over Europe and the world to Brno," stated Minister Riedlbauch. According to him, it is about time to renovate the villa. "If we don't start now, we will have major problems in 20 years," he added. The reconstruction of the villa will employ methods necessary for restoring architecture from the 1920s to 1940s. The established center will subsequently serve as a base for study, research, and educational activities focused on architecture from this period.
    The center in the Stiassny villa will preserve documentation and provide information on the reconstruction of heritage sites from the last century. Repairing these buildings requires entirely different methods than restoring classical historical residences. "We want to bring the building as close as possible to its state from the first half of the 20th century, which is challenging due to the industrialization of individual elements," said the director of the Brno branch of NPÚ Petr Kroupa. According to him, restoring monuments from the 20th century is more complicated than restoring older monuments.
    The functionalist villa was commissioned in 1927 by textile industrialist Alfred Stiassny, who was of Jewish descent and owned a factory in Brno in Přízová, later known as Vlněna, according to the design of architect Arnošt Wiesner. During the occupation, it was confiscated by the Gestapo from its original owners, and after the war, it remained with the state. The family lived in the United States after the war. Stiassny and his wife Hermína died in the 1960s in Hollywood.
    In addition to Czechoslovak presidents, Fidel Castro also stayed in the villa. According to experts, the Brno "government villa" is as interesting as the most famous functionalist building in Brno - the Tugendhat Villa.