functionalism

Wall stolen from villa Tugendhat found in canteen

by Michal Kašpárek on 05/15/2011

A wooden wall separating the dining room from the rest of the floor. Source: ČT

A wooden wall separating the dining room from the rest of the floor. Source: ČT

The restoration of villa Tugendhat has led to another interesting story. A beautiful interior wall, stolen from the villa Tugendhat dining room by Gestapo in the 1940s, has been considered lost for good for the last 70 years. That changed few days ago, when Brno-based historian Miroslav Ambroz found the original macassar wood wall, cut into pieces, paneling the canteen of the Faculty of Law at Veveří st.

The building of the Faculty of Law served as a local gestapo headquarters during the WW2. According to the website of Czech television, it is quite likely that the original wall will be restored and moved back to villa Tugendhat. You may see it next year, when the €6.3M reconstruction finishes.

Villa Tugendhat was confiscated in the autumn of 1939, as its owners were Jews. Most of the original equipment has been stolen or destroyed. The bulding remains to be a property of the Czech state. In 2001, it was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

{ 1 comment }

Famous Café Era to reopen in 2009

January 1, 2009

One of the most famous moravian cafés of the pre-war era and also a jewel of the functionalist architecture of Brno, café Era, will be renovated at last. Luboš Ptáček, who bought the ruin in 2002, wants to have new café Era opened again until the end 2009.