The furniture from the Tugendhat villa has become a cultural monument

Prague - Four pieces of furniture from the original furnishings of the Brno Tugendhat villa have become cultural monuments. This was decided by the Ministry of Culture, which informs about its conclusion on its website. These furniture pieces were returned to the original owners and are stored in the Moravian Gallery in Brno.
    The declaration as a cultural monument, among other things, means that the objects cannot be permanently exported abroad. This happened in the case of the Lehmbruck statue from the Tugendhat villa, which the descendants of the original owners decided to sell at a London auction.
    The statue "Torso of a Walking Woman" from the Tugendhat villa was auctioned in London a year ago for more than 40 million crowns. Previously, it had lain for decades in the Brno gallery depot, valued at just tens of thousands of crowns. Because it had not been declared a cultural monument, the descendants of the original owners were able to export and sell it shortly after acquiring it. Although the ministry had previously received a proposal to declare it a monument, it did not do so. It stated that the entire villa, including the furnishings and a replica of the statue located in the house, had been declared a monument.
    The set of four pieces of furniture from the original furnishings of the Tugendhat villa consists of a buffet made of lacquered wood, chrome steel, and opaxit glass, a bench made of lacquered wood, a small table of chrome steel and glass, and an armchair made of chrome tubes covered with leather and velvet.
    One of the reasons why the items were declared a cultural monument is that they are the only pieces from the original furnishings that have survived to this day. The regional office and the Brno territorial office of the National Heritage Institute recommended declaring them a monument, among other things, because they “… represent significant works, both in the context of the work of the leading world architect Mies van der Rohe and in terms of their significance for the Czech cultural environment in the past and present.”
    According to experts, the buffet deserves the most attention of the four items, as its construction refers to the architectural solution of the main living space of the villa, the supporting parts of which are made only of columns covered externally with plates of chrome steel.
    After evaluating all the expert opinions, the Ministry of Culture concluded that in the case of this set of four furniture pieces, it is a "quality example of original furniture from one of the most prestigious and artistically valuable functionalist buildings in our territory. These unique pieces, with their artistic significance, document the development of modern furniture design on a global scale.” The fact that the mentioned artifacts were designed by the leading functionalist architect and one of the founders of modern architecture, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, further emphasizes their importance and cultural value, the ministry stated.