Vila Tugendhat has been renovated, and it is now being cleaned inside

photo: David Židlický

Brno - One of the most significant monuments in Brno, the Tugendhat villa, has been repaired. The villa, which was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2001, is being cleaned and prepared for its opening. The city council has postponed the ceremonial act by a few days to February 29. As a result, the villa will be opened by President Václav Klaus, Mayor Roman Onderka (ČSSD) told reporters today. The villa was originally scheduled to open in early March.
    Onderka reminded that the agreement on the division of Czechoslovakia was signed in the villa in 1992 by the then Czech Prime Minister Klaus and his Slovak counterpart Vladimír Mečiar. "I wanted one of the participants of this event to be present at the villa's opening," Onderka stated.
    According to the head of the Tugendhat villa, Iveta Černá, the vast majority of the work is already completed. "We are currently cleaning, everything is being washed. We are keeping the furniture in protective covers for now, but the onyx wall has already been uncovered," Černá stated. According to her, workers are repairing some of the plaster. "It's only in the places we damaged ourselves during handling," Černá said. The villa's restoration cost about 180 million crowns. It has been closed since January 2010. It will open to the public about a week after Klaus's visit.
    The villa was built according to the designs of renowned architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe on a plot of land in Brno's Černá Pole starting in June 1929. The Tugendhat family moved in in December 1930. They only enjoyed the house for eight years, as they emigrated due to fears of the Nazis.
    The current heritage restoration of the villa is the largest construction intervention in its history. Builders, under the supervision of conservationists, worked to preserve as much of the original materials as possible and used the same technologies. In the past months, research efforts continued during construction, which led to the discovery of a part of the original semicircular makasar wall that bordered the dining room in the villa. Brno art historian Miroslav Ambroz discovered it in the cafeteria of the law faculty.
    The open villa will offer several novelties. Among other things, it will be completely furnished. In one of the rooms, there will be screens displaying films about the villa and period photographs. The villa will also sell professional publications.