The Architecture 2023 will commemorate Santini and Prager

At the end of September and the beginning of October, architecture will again take center stage. The largest architectural festival in our country, Architecture Day, will offer hundreds of free events across the Czech Republic and Slovakia from September 29 to October 5, 2023. The rich program will take place in Prague, Brno, Ostrava, Opava, Plzeň, and in a hundred other cities and towns. It will again open normally inaccessible buildings, offer architectural walks with engaging commentary, bike rides, lectures, as well as theatrical performances and concerts, along with a whole range of other events. This year's edition will be held under the motto Discover the Structure! and will focus on exceptional structural solutions, both in historical architecture, industrial architecture, and in buildings from the 20th and 21st centuries. "In various places across the country, we will also commemorate the work of the exceptional representative of Baroque Gothic, Jan Blažej Santini-Aichel, whose death marks 300 years this year, and we will also explore the buildings of one of the most significant representatives of post-war architecture in our country – Karel Prager, who was born 100 years ago,” adds the founder and director of Architecture Day, Marcela Steinbachová. The festival of Architecture Day in Slovakia offers an even richer program this year, taking place in more than twenty cities.

Alongside Architecture Day, the Film and Architecture festival will also take place this year. Both festivals are organized by the Kruh association, which draws from more than two decades of experience in the field and long-term cooperation with architects, associations, and institutions in all regions. Over the course of 13 years of the festival's existence, about 240 cities in the Czech Republic and Slovakia have participated. Architecture Day is traditionally held on the occasion of World Architecture Day, which falls on the first Monday in October.

The program will be published continuously at www.denarchitektury.cz.

The 13th edition has the main festival motto Discover the Structure!. Across the republic, it will showcase dozens of buildings featuring interesting structural solutions, from historical palaces, sacred buildings, residential houses, administrative buildings, industrial objects, towers, as well as lookouts or bridges. The organizers aim to showcase hidden treasures across the country that are exceptional due to their structural work. In Prague, for instance, they will focus on the key realization of the husband and wife duo, Věra and Vladimír Machonin, at the Kotva department store, the new Štvanická footbridge, and they will visit the roof of St. Ludmila's basilica or follow in the footsteps of architect Ladislav Machoň's adaptation at Klementinum. The Architecture Day program further entices visitors to Kutná Hora, where, alongside the iconic cathedral, it will offer tours of the normally inaccessible convent, to the František Josef mine in Kladno, the former weaving factory in Náměšť nad Oslavou, or to the roofs of burgher houses in Cheb. In Ústí nad Labem, interested parties can embark on a guided tour of the constructions of Dr. Edvard Beneš Bridge and the Mariánský Bridge. In Ostrava, the festival will offer, among other things, a tour of the Lower Vítkovice area, while in Zlín, it will open up the Centroprojekt building to the public and also visit the hotel and television transmitter on Ještěd. In Opava, during the festival, it will be possible to visit the Blücher Palace and Hotel Koruna. In Brno, the program will primarily focus on the architecturally unique exhibition grounds, invite visitors to the water tower on Žlutý kopec, and also exceptionally allow a visit to the building of the legendary Prior before its demolition, even as part of the theater performance Analysis of Housing.

The program includes extraordinary solutions to the reconstruction of historical buildings. Interested parties will be able to glimpse the Imperial Baths in Karlovy Vary, reconstructed by architect Petr Hájek, the newly renovated modernist Wenke House in Jaroměř by Josef Gočár, or the newly opened reconstructed Pardubice Automated Mills, also by Gočár, which have involved several architectural studios and will now primarily serve the arts. The festival also invites visitors to the town hall in Moravská Třebová, where unique construction technology at the turn of the 1950s and 1960s saved a significant Renaissance landmark in the town.
The festival program does not overlook the most current architectural achievements. For example, in Nesvačilka near Brno, the newly opened chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows will be presented, along with the conversion of a transformer station in Lipnice nad Sázavou or the new town hall building in Lázně Bělohrad.

Following in the footsteps of the genius architect Jan Blažej Santini-Aichel, the festival will extend throughout the country. In addition to famous realizations, it will also examine lesser-known buildings and structures that bear Santini's hallmark. It will include the monastery church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Želiv, as well as the Church of the Holy Trinity in Žďár nad Sázavou, Château Karlova Koruna in Chlumec nad Cidlinou, the Monastery Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Kladruby, the Pilgrimage Church of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary, or the castle in Lázně Bělohrad. In Hradec Králové, it will offer tours of the oldest ecclesiastical buildings, the chapel of St. Clement, which Santini reconstructed from Gothic to Baroque form, and the Bishop's Residence. Thanks to the festival, the public can also visit the normally inaccessible farm building Hubenov or the farm building Kalec. The program will also follow Santini's traces in Prague. It will include a visit to the so-called Valkoun House, which he owned and reconstructed, and the Morzinski Palace – the building of the Romanian Embassy. Santini was also involved in the designs of the Kolowrat (Thun) Palace in Malá Strana, the Church of Our Lady Mother of Perpetual Help, and St. Cajetan's Church, where the normally inaccessible Santini staircase will be on display. He is also the author of the Holy Steps at the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and St. Charles. Not only in Prague but also at many locations in the regions, architectural historian Radomíra Sedláková and other experts on Santini's work will provide expert commentary. In Prague and Hradec Králové, Santini will also be commemorated by performances of the Theater Company Jedl.
This year, Architecture Day also commemorates the 100th anniversary of Karel Prager's birth, whose name is particularly associated with the international trend of brutalism. However, the program will cover his entire creative period, from early works to visionary approaches. As part of the festival, interested parties can visit, for example, the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences, the campus of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University in Troja, the New Stage of the National Theatre, or the former residence of the Association of Project Studios (currently the headquarters of the IPR). The program will also showcase Prager's realizations outside of Prague. For instance, the Cultural House in Veselí nad Lužnicí and the Cultural House in Březnice, which carry his distinctive style. The festival will also highlight his works in the style of socialist realism from the 1950s. In Strakonice and Ostrava-Poruba, it will showcase sets of residential buildings and an experimental panel house in Otrokovice.