Jan Kotěra (1871-1923) - founder of Czech modern architecture

The 150th anniversary of the birth of the Brno-born founder of Czech modern architecture was last year; with some delay, we will now commemorate it with an exhibition in the lecture and exhibition building in the area of the Stiassni villa in Brno. Information panels, photographs, plans, and exhibits borrowed from the National Technical Museum will be on display until September 26, 2022.
The core of the exhibition is the Jan Kotěra 150 exhibition, which was part of the broader exhibition titled Czech architecture from Art Nouveau to the present day held in the riding school of Prague Castle last year. It features early works starting with one of the first Art Nouveau realizations in Prague – the Peterka House on Wenceslas Square – or a set of early villas – the Trmal and Sucharda villas in Prague, Máchova villa in Bachyně, and Tondrova villa in Sankt Gilgen in Austria. Additionally, two significant realizations in Hradec Králové – the District House (1903-1904) and Kotěra's most significant work, the City Museum in Hradec Králové (1906-1913). The representative Lemberger-Gombrich villas in Vienna (1913-1915) are also included. The last realization, which Kotěra did not live to see and was executed by his collaborator Ladislav Machoň, is the Faculty of Law.
Also mentioned will be Jan Kotěra's pedagogical activities. As one of the exhibition curators, Dr. Oldřich Janota, states, "Kotěra educated 41 young Czech architects at the School of Applied Arts, including Adolf Foehr, Josef Gočár, Jan Letzel, František Lydie Gahura, Jaromír Krejcar, and crucially for Brno, Bohuslav Fuchs."
The exhibition presents the most famous Kotěra buildings, projects, and also little-known snippets from the architect's life. It was prepared by the Kotěra Center for Architecture in collaboration with the National Heritage Institute and the Methodological Center for Modern Architecture in Brno.
The vernissage will take place on June 7, 2022, at 5 PM. The opening remarks will be made by the exhibition curators Dr. Oldřich Janota and Prof. Vladimír Šlapeta.