The exhibition on Czech functionalism will be presented in Prague in the autumn

Prague - An exhibition recalling Czech functionalism, after its recent premiere in Israel, will be presented in the fall in Prague. It will take place at the Ministry of Culture (MK) in the Nostitz Palace on Maltese Square. Functionalist landmarks in the Czech Republic, among which the Tugendhat villa in Brno is one of the 12 Czech monuments listed as UNESCO World Heritage, were the subject of today's conference at the same location.
    The MK organized it under the name "Czech and Moravian Functionalism - A World Unique and Phenomenon" on the occasion of today's International Day of Monuments. An exhibition with the same name took place last month in Tel Aviv and, according to the organizers from the Czech Centre, was very successful. It was co-organized by the branch of the National Heritage Institute in Brno, whose representatives presented it today in Prague.
    Domestic functionalism has a very good reputation worldwide, and there is interest in both the Prague Müller Villa by architect Adolf Loos and in the functionalist gems of Brno - the Tugendhat and Stiassny villas, whose hundreds of millions in reconstruction costs are financed from the EU Integrated Operational Programme; the Czech state contributes 15 percent to the projects.
    In the lesser-known Stiassny villa in Brno, which shared a similar fate to the famous Tugendhat villa due to the Jewish origin of its builder, a Center for the Restoration of 20th Century Architectural Heritage is being established. The Center will preserve documentation and provide information for the restoration of monuments from the last century. The repair of these buildings requires completely different procedures than the restoration of classical historical sites.
    The reconstruction of the Stiassny villa is set to cost 180 million crowns, while the long-delayed repair and restoration of the Tugendhat villa ended in February and cost 156 million crowns. The villa was designed in 1928 by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who came up with a radical solution for residential space. He eliminated the boundaries between rooms as well as between interior and exterior, thus influencing the architecture of the entire 20th century.