The reconstruction of Wenk's house in Jaroměř cost 30 million CZK and will open on Sunday

Jaroměř – The reconstructed historic Wenk's department store in Jaroměř from 1911, which houses the city museum, will be open to the public again from Sunday, April 26. The author of the study and design documentation for the reconstruction is architect David Vávra. The total costs for the reconstruction, including furnishings, amounted to approximately 30 million crowns. This was based on information published today by the Jaroměř municipal office. Jaroměř is the main investor in the reconstruction. The Wenk house was declared a national cultural monument in 2017.

"Thanks to the reconstruction and the relocation of the depository to a basement suitably adapted for these purposes, which previously served as a civil defense shelter, the exhibition space has increased significantly. We also gained two prestigious spaces that will allow us to hold exhibitions while maintaining permanent displays," said museum director and proponent of the reconstruction Rudolf Havelka.

The museum's spaces have been expanded to include a lecture hall, and the attic has been adapted for workshops. In the garden, there is a gazebo with a cubist sandbox for children. The original freight elevator has been made operational. A permanent exhibition dedicated to Jaroměř's native artists and representatives of Czech modernism, Josef Šíma, Otakar Španiel, and Josef Wagner, is located on the first floor of the museum. "Not only was the original, unrecovered furniture restored according to period photographs, but also the metal structures of the main façade, and most importantly, the exhibition spaces have been expanded," Havelka stated.

The floors, central heating, and network systems have been renewed. "Interventions were limited to the absolutely necessary extent, with a sensitivity to preserving original details," Havelka noted.

The reconstruction, including furnishings, cost approximately 30 million crowns, of which additional work accounted for about seven million crowns. The main investor in the reconstruction, the city of Jaroměř, along with partner Polish cities Bolesławiec and Kłodsko, received a grant from European funds for 85 percent of the eligible costs. Eligible costs amount to 977,900 euros (23.5 million CZK). The state budget covered five percent of the eligible costs, the Hradec Králové Region contributed one million crowns, and the rest was paid by the city.

According to Havelka, the reconstruction did not go without complications. The original planned opening date for the Wenk house was postponed by several months. "Construction work got a bit stalled during last winter when a large number of Ukrainian workers and craftsmen did not return to the construction company, remaining in Ukraine due to the war. However, the delay did not jeopardize the Czech-Polish grant. The results of nearly three years of work will be shown to the public at the ceremonial opening this Sunday," Havelka told ČTK.

The main building of today's museum, with a functionalist reinforced concrete and glass-steel structure, was built between 1910 and 1911 according to the design of architect Josef Gočár by businessman Josef Wenke, owner of the company A. Wenke and son, specializing in the sale of shell products and haberdashery. The Wenkes established a department store in it. After the company's bankruptcy during the economic crisis, the building was auctioned off in 1938, and in 1947 it was purchased by the city of Jaroměř. Since then, it has served as an exhibition hall and city museum. Significant modifications occurred in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In 2000, the basement was damaged by a hundred-year flood.

The adjoining building No. 91 dates back to the late 19th century; before the reconstruction, the museum had depositories and office space in it. After the reconstruction, part of this building has been opened to the public, an educational room has been created in the attic, and there is an exhibition on the paper production of the Wenke family in the ground floor.