Bauer's villa in Libodřice will close to the public on January 1st

Libodřice (Kolín region) - Bauer Villa in Libodřice in the Kolín region will be closed to the public from January 1. Since 2008, it has housed a museum with a gallery of cubist design. The closure is due to technical reasons; the villa will undergo modifications, said Iva Voborník Drejnarová from the Czech Cubism Foundation, which owns the villa. It is unclear when the museum will reopen. "There will be some modifications taking place, and access to the villa is also being addressed, because someone purchased the land and made it impossible," said Drejnarová.

The villa in Libodřice was built between 1912 and 1914 for the local estate owner Adolf Bauer and his family, based on a design by architect Josef Gočár. After the rise of Nazism, the house was seized by the authorities. After 1948, it housed a national committee, library, hairdressing salon, and apartments. The dilapidated building was purchased from the municipality in 2002 by the Czech Cubism Foundation. It was reconstructed for 25 million crowns. The state, Central Bohemia Region, European Union, and a number of donors contributed to this. The villa is registered in the state list of immovable cultural monuments.

The preserved parts of the interior are complemented by cubist furniture, porcelain, and sculptures by Otto Gutfreund. The main highlights of the exhibition are the preserved original interior elements, particularly the entrance staircase hall with a fireplace inspired by English villa architecture, the bathroom fittings, laundry room, heating distribution including the central heating boiler, radiators with original wrought iron curtains, wooden built-in wardrobe, and library.

The Czech Cubism Foundation was established in 2002. Its goal is to protect cultural monuments, especially architectural works from the first half of the 20th century, and to preserve the applied arts of designers from this era.