The tour guide lured the Brno residents into the streets, they also saw the Stiassni villa

Brno - Hundreds of Brno residents took to the streets over the weekend to admire the beauty of the city's architecture and monuments. People also celebrated the International Day of Guides. The greatest interest was in the tour of the functionalist Stiassni villa, which will be closed to the public until 2014 due to reconstruction. A total of about 650 people participated in tours in various parts of the city. Marina Sedláková from the Association of Guides of the Czech Republic said this to ČTK.
With the Brno event, guides wanted to entice citizens to places worth visiting. Most of the places were seen by people only from the street. People heard explanations in front of the closed Avion hotel. The Tugendhat villa is also closed for reconstruction. According to Sedláková, this deprives the current offer of functionalist gems for which Brno is renowned. "I will write to the preservation institute. The city must offer people something else," said Sedláková.
Preservationists have been assisting professional guides with tours this year. They presented informed commentary at the Stiassni villa, which is another functionalist pearl. Visitors learned that its original owners, textile industrialists, had to first buy out 30 plots before constructing it. They built an impressive villa according to the plans of Arnošt Wiesner. The villa has a large garden, which includes a tennis court, and there used to be stables, greenhouses, or a pool. In the second half of the 20th century, it hosted several representatives of the communist regime. The entire area is now waiting for reconstruction. A center for the preservation of 20th-century architectural heritage is to be built on the site, costing 180 million crowns. Preservationists also want to restore the house itself and the garden with the original alley planted during the First Republic, whose existence is barely noticeable to the uninitiated.
Today was one of the last opportunities for people to see the villa. "In the coming years, we do not anticipate regular operations here. Perhaps we would make the villa accessible specifically for a small group of experts. Larger tours will only be possible after the reconstruction," Petr Czajkowski from the National Heritage Institute told ČTK. According to him, it will be problematic to return the villa to its original state. Two architects participated in its design, and preservationists only have plans from one of them. Therefore, they do not know the original state. Photographs from 1936 will partially help them. "Only parts of the interior will remain in their original state after reconstruction," Czajkowski stated.
According to Sedláková, there has long been interest in tours of Brno's gems among people. Tourists are attracted, for example, by the view from the administrative building of the Brno Trade Fairs, from which the entire exhibition area can be seen. "There is interest in thematic circuits during the season and in April or May. People are interested in passages, cafes, and churches," said Sedláková. There was also great interest in Art Nouveau Brno over the weekend. Residents of Brno who participated in a four-hour expedition to explore the city parts of Židenice, Maloměřice, and Husovice left satisfied.