Gočárova Gallery in Pardubice is structurally finished

Pardubice - The Gočár Gallery in Pardubice is structurally completed, and the next step will be the furnishing of the interiors. People will be able to visit the first exhibitions in the summer. The Deputy Governor Roman Línek (Coalition for Pardubice Region) said this to journalists today. The gallery will be located in the former automatic mills, which are a national cultural monument. Work on modernizing the building began in May 2020.

"From the beginning, it was the largest investment of the Pardubice Region in culture, and it did not come at an easy time. First, there was COVID, then a shortage of some materials, then the war in Ukraine, rising energy prices, overall inflation," said Línek. These were the reasons why the costs increased from 338 to 361 million crowns. Grants will cover 127 million crowns, and the state contributed 7.5 million crowns.

The exhibition spaces, which have five above-ground floors, are dominated by white, with some wooden elements, such as oak floors. Some rooms reveal original concrete or brick walls, while in some places there is exposed concrete. The stairs to the floors are made from original wooden beams. The external window frames have been refurbished to retain part of the building's original appearance. The inner part of the windows features a modern design to regulate light and prevent heat loss.

Part of the space will be for temporary exhibitions, while part will be for long-term displays, where the gallery will showcase its most valuable artworks. Visitors will be able to observe large-format paintings on a wall that is 11 meters high from the upper gallery. Lectures and workshops can be held there. The gallery will have two entrances from the Chrudimka waterfront, one of which leads through the mill complex.

"If no extraordinary complications arise, visitors should have the opportunity to see one-off spatial performances in the building during the summer," said Línek. The gallery will be fully operational from autumn when two other investors complete their constructions on the premises, Línek added.

Three smaller regional investments are linked to the gallery project. It will be necessary to demolish the old transformer station at the front of the gallery, with a new one to be built at the back of the building. A separate project is the gallery café, which could not be part of the European project. In the northern wing, gallery staff will have offices.

The premises are also hosting the construction of polytechnic workshops called Sféra and the city gallery of Pardubice, while the silo for exhibition and social spaces is being converted by the Smetana Foundation. All entities have agreed to open the premises simultaneously, which is expected to happen in autumn 2023. All investments have been supported by the EU with 400 million crowns.

The mills designed by architect Josef Gočár were built between 1909 and 1911. They were commissioned by Egon and Karel Winternitz. In 1919, a fire affected the building, and in the following five years, it was raised by one floor and an automatic fire extinguishing system was installed. In the 1920s, a new silo was added to the mills, connected to the older part by a bridge.

The mills ceased operations in 2013, and the firm GoodMills offered the complex to the city, which did not purchase it. In 2016, the complex was bought by the Smetana couple for 22 million crowns. They sold part of the complex to the city for 15.5 million crowns, and the main building was sold to the region for 21 million crowns.