The museum will launch a digital archive of Jan Kaplický and his family

Prague – The digitized archive of the Kaplický family has been prepared by the Museum of Decorative Arts. It was processed in collaboration with the Kaplický Centre Foundation and was published today, on the anniversary of the sudden death of architect Jan Kaplický. He died in 2009, two years after winning an international competition for the construction of a new National Library building in Prague. The unusual building was not accepted by Czech society, and the library still lacks a new facility, although its management has been talking about its necessity for years.

The archive will also capture the work of his parents, Josef and Jiřina Kaplický, in the future. "The digitization of Jan Kaplický's library has been in process since the time he passed away and his wife had to figure out what to do with the entire archive," said Helena Koenigsmarková, director of the Museum of Decorative Arts, to ČTK today. Kaplický's books and magazines, including notes from which his wide-ranging inspirations can be studied, have been digitized.

The archive will be accessible through the museum library's website. One computer will be located in the library where more detailed materials can be found.

The Kaplický Centre Foundation organized a meeting in Prague today at Špejchar, where the library was supposed to be built according to Kaplický's design. Among those attending was artist and musician Vladimir 518, who draws inspiration from Kaplický. He read a letter written by former president Václav Havel on the occasion of the last farewell to Kaplický. It was conceived as a birthday wish for Kaplický's daughter Johanka, who was born on the day of the architect's death. For Havel, the day Kaplický died was reportedly a day when he himself stood before the heavenly gate due to his serious illness.

"I don't know why he was given priority, but I know he left happily with thoughts of you and your mother. Since then, I often remember how we stood there side by side, waiting for fate's decree. When I learned that I was getting another chance, it was clear to me that I was being challenged, among other things, to advocate for respect for his architectural visions," Havel wrote back then. He expressed hope that the building would be constructed in the next 12 years and that not only Johanka would be able to walk around it. Kaplický's daughter walked around a model of the blob that children made out of paper in an architecture club today.

Kaplický won the competition for the design of the new National Library building in 2007. The futuristic project elicited both enthusiastic and opposing reactions, but primarily lost political support after then-president Václav Klaus spoke about it with resistance, soon followed by then-Prague mayor Pavel Bém, who had previously praised the design.

The National Library then deviated from the new construction in 2008, but under the influence of other directors and ministers of culture, it returned to the idea, as the library still lacks the required capacity. There were also discussions about reviving Kaplický's design, but it is now thought that realizing a nearly 15-year-old project would be very difficult, especially without the presence of the author.