At Reynkov's castle in Petrkov, events will resume from April

Lípa – In Petrkov in the Havlíčkobrodsko region, meetings with concerts and exhibitions will continue from next month. In the small chateau where the graphic artist, poet, and translator Bohuslav Reynek lived with his wife, the French poet and translator Suzanne Renaud, the program for the public will take place approximately every two weeks. Lucie Tučková, who leads the local Czech-French cultural center, said this to ČTK today. The first meeting of the year, titled A Memory of Snow, will be on April 9.

"Around this date, the Reyneks would return from France while they lived between France and Petrkov," Tučková said, adding that Suzanne Renaud reflected with some sadness in several poems about how there was still snow in the Petrkov garden at that time.

The chateau will open two hours after noon. The introduction will feature the presentation of a new book, First Snow, with poems by Reynek and Renaud that were inspired by the first snow in the Petrkov garden. Subsequently, their set to music poems will be performed by Ondřej and Štěpán Škoch, and the meeting will conclude with a remembrance of the friendship between the family of French writer Henri Pourrat and the Reyneks.

On April 9, the exhibition Winter Courtyard, which has been there since November, will be on display in the chateau for the last time. It will also be accessible on April 2 between 14:00 and 17:00. New exhibitions in Petrkov will open on April 30. On that occasion, singer Monika Načeva will perform in Petrkov. Details are available on the website of the Memorial of National Literature, which took over the estate last year after the state purchased it.

Occasional events for the public have been held in Petrkov since last June, with over 800 people attending them in total. The last program took place on November 6. According to Tučková, a longer break was caused by the coronavirus epidemic. Last September, people in Petrkov commemorated the 50th anniversary of Bohuslav Reynek's death (May 31, 1892 - September 28, 1971), and this spring marks 130 years since Reynek's birth.

According to Tučková, the Petrkov center is also trying to address contemporary topics. "We will also be organizing some art workshops here, perhaps even for Ukrainian children," she stated. Two newly accessible rooms on the upper floor of the house will serve as additional exhibition spaces. This year, emergency repairs will also be carried out on the estate. "We are coordinating them so as not to disrupt visitor operations," Tučková said. Repairs are required for the roof, a vault in one of the agricultural buildings, and work will also be done on draining the basements.

There is no parking available on site. People can arrive by train or come by foot along the path.