Renovation of the Tugendhat villa in Brno can begin, costing 146 million CZK

Brno - The long-delayed restoration of the functionalist Tugendhat Villa in Brno can begin. Mayor Roman Onderka and the director of the Unistav company, Miroslav Friš, signed a contract today in which the company commits to restore the monument for 146 million Czech korunas. The city will likely only cover part of the costs from its budget. About 100 million korunas is expected to be obtained through the Ministry of Culture from the European Union fund, the mayor told reporters today.
The money from the union is not yet certain. According to Onderka, however, the plan for the villa's restoration has been rated well among projects and should be approved.
Due to the repairs, the villa, which is the only Czech modern art building listed in the UNESCO registry, will be closed for at least two years. After that, it will reopen to visitors with a new appearance and a new offering. After restoration, it will not have the current white color, but a light ochre shade. "The villa will have the color we discovered (as original), it was the seventh layer of exterior plaster," said Iveta Černá, the villa's administrator, to ČTK. Experts determined the original color during international research conducted from 2003 to 2006.
The managing Museum of the City of Brno is also preparing new things in the guided tour routes - for example, it plans to make the technical background, which makes the villa unique, accessible. It has an exceptional air conditioning system for its time.
There is also consideration that the new entrance to the villa could be through the Löw-Beer Villa on Drobného Street. It is located on the slope below the Tugendhat Villa and once formed a single unit with it, as Greta Tugendhat's parents lived in the Löw-Beer Villa and provided the upper part of the garden for the construction of her house. Today, a fence separates the two buildings, but it could disappear. The Löw-Beer Villa is currently owned by the region and houses the Masaryk Student Home.