Jurkovič's villa will offer visitors a study room with 1200 documents

Brno - The rare Jurkovič villa, which will open to the public in Brno in April after a complete renovation, will offer visitors the opportunity to use a research room with access to about 1200 documents about the famous architect and the villa's first owner Dušan Jurkovič. The documents from the Moravian Gallery, which owns the villa and invested a total of 45 million, come from poorly accessible archives in Slovakia. This was reported to journalists today by the gallery curator Martina Lehmannová.
    "Visitors who are not satisfied with the explanation can learn more details in the study room," she stated. According to her, the gallery staff scanned up to 1200 documents detailing Jurkovič's (1868 - 1947) life and work.
    Jurkovič's villa, which hosts a permanent exhibition and will also host temporary exhibitions, aims to be welcoming to visitors in other ways: it is accessible without barriers, and people can touch or sit on most of the furniture. "We encourage touching the objects," Lehmannová said. According to Patr Všetečka, the architect of the villa's restoration, which was being repaired from 2009 until the end of last year, there is also a lift in the building to facilitate movement for the handicapped. The lift shaft was built on the site of two rooms that previously served only for the operation of the villa and were not important for the remembrance of Jurkovič's style.
    According to Všetečka, the team of restorers and architects faced the challenge of how to approach the restoration of a villa that is itself a valuable exhibit while also making it as open to the public as possible. The architect who built the villa in 1906 provided a significant "advantage" for today's restoration team. He conceived the building not only as a family house but also as a work of art, where he wanted to demonstrate his style and the contemporary pan-European trends in architecture.
    For the first time, people will be able to see inside the villa on April 1. Then it will be accessible throughout the year - from April to October, it will be open every day of the week except Mondays, and from November to March only on Thursdays, Fridays, and weekends. The basic entrance fee is 100 crowns.
    The building is one of the pinnacle examples of modernist architecture inspired by British and Viennese creations with elements of folk art. The renovation included the repair of the roof, facade, wooden structures, and windows. Wood is one of the main building materials of the villa. The garden has also been revitalized and modified. The villa's facade is adorned with a new painted glass with a fairy tale motif created by Josef Bolf. The original glass mosaic by Adolf Kašpar has not survived.
    The architect of Slovak origin built the villa in Brno-Žabovřesky for his own needs. However, he lived in it only briefly. Afterwards, private owners lived there who were aware of the building's value and spared it from irreversible interventions and modifications. The Moravian Gallery purchased the house in 2006 for 15 million crowns.