The Moravian Gallery in Brno plans a partial renovation of the Governor's Palace

Brno - The Moravian Gallery in Brno plans a partial reconstruction of the Governor's Palace next year, an architecturally valuable Baroque building with a rich history. The first phase will affect the courtyard and part of the interiors. It will require temporary operational restrictions and an investment of around 80 million crowns. The gallery has previously secured funding from European funds.

"Since the beginning of this year, we have reduced the project due to rising costs. We are now preparing the documents for the tender for the general contractor," said Jan Press, the director of the gallery, to ČTK today. It should be completed at the turn of 2023 and 2024.

Funding for the overall reconstruction of the building is still lacking. About ten years ago, the costs were estimated at half a billion crowns, and it would certainly be significantly higher now. For this reason, the gallery established by the Ministry of Culture decided on a "salami method" and will at least repair something with European funds, specifically the courtyard.

"With this, we also want to demonstrate the necessity of the reconstruction and the contrast of the renovated courtyard with the outer façade," Press stated.

The Governor's Palace in the center of Brno is part of the originally medieval monastic complex surrounding St. Thomas' Church. After the Josephine reforms, state, regional, and estate offices were located in the building, and after 1918, the regional president was also based there. During the communist totality, the palace was used by the museum of the labor movement; after November 1989, it became part of the Moravian Gallery, which houses some of its permanent exhibitions as well as spaces for temporary exhibitions, a gallery bookstore, and a café.