Fénomen Jože Plečnik - book launch at GJF

The book The Phenomenon of Jože Plečnik by Miroslav Zelinský is already the third publication in the "Phenomenon" series by Grada Publishing. Its ambition is to present significant architects with Czech roots or realizations in Czech territory in a popular way. The interested reader is now holding a richly illustrated publication about one of the exceptional figures in European and also Czech, or rather Czechoslovak, architecture. The Slovenian Jože Plečnik left his mark in Vienna and especially in Ljubljana, where he had the opportunity to execute numerous architectural works in a city that, at the end of the 19th century, was heavily damaged by a massive earthquake.
At the same time, however, his influence is very visible in the Czech Republic, specifically in Prague. The meeting with the first Czechoslovak president Tomáš G. Masaryk, "orchestrated" by Plečnik's friend, architect Jan Kotěra, brought significant changes to the concept of the reconstruction of Prague Castle, which thus became a dignified residence for the new head of the new state once again. Plečnik, as a deeply religious person, worked throughout his life on sacred buildings in Vienna and Ljubljana, while in Prague, his indelible mark is the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Královské Vinohrady.
There are, however, more of those "royal" attributes in this construction. You can also read about this in our book, accompanied by current and period photographs and, above all – as in the entire editorial series so far – by drawings of the architect and architecture promoter David Vávra.