The exhibition about Plečnik's work will open the tourist season on Friday at the Castle

Prague – Starting Friday, visitors to the exhibition at the Castle will be able to learn how Slovenian architect Jože Plečnik transformed parts of Prague Castle. It will take place in the Theresian Wing of the Old Royal Palace, with additional panels in the Castle grounds, directly at sites where traces of Plečnik's work are evident. The exhibition will open the summer tourist season at Prague Castle on Friday.

It will also commemorate the round anniversary of Plečnik’s birth (1872 to 1957), during which he significantly transformed the interiors of the New Royal Palace as well as the castle courtyards and gardens at the residence of Czech kings and state representatives. According to Plečnik’s plans, the garden at Na Baště was modified, as well as three of the four castle courtyards. He also designed the Masaryk viewpoint with a vineyard on the northern edge of Jelení příkop. He also designed the interior of the Column Hall in the northern castle wing and the apartment of President Masaryk in the New Royal Palace.

The main curator of the exhibition is architectural historian Vladimír Šlapeta, who stated that the exhibition will present all stages of Plečnik's creative life. The early period in Vienna, where he went in 1892 and subsequently studied at the academy under Otto Wagner. In Austria, he formed a close and lifelong friendship with his Czech classmate Jan Kotěra.

At his recommendation, Plečnik became a professor at the Arts and Crafts School in Prague, where he worked for ten years. The final period is when he became a professor of architecture at the newly established university in Ljubljana, while also serving as the castle architect in Prague.

The exhibition is largely composed of panels placed in the courtyards and gardens of Prague Castle, always near specific architectural elements. In the Theresian Wing, visitors will also see models and designs of both realized and merely intended Plečnik projects.

Plečnik’s work at the Castle gradually ended with Masaryk's departure. In the 1930s, he significantly influenced the face of Vinohrady, where the Church of the Sacred Heart of Our Lord was built according to his plans between 1928 and 1932. Simultaneously, the architect worked in his native Ljubljana, where he built and taught.

The exhibition will be complemented by photographs from Slovenian photographer Saša Fuisa, who captured Plečnik’s masterpiece, the National and University Library of Slovenia in Ljubljana. According to Šlapeta, for the first time, visitors will also see some drawings from the private collection of Plečnik expert Damjan Prelovšek, grandson of the Ljubljana building councilor and former Slovenian ambassador to the Czech Republic. Two short films showcasing Plečnik were also successfully brought from Ljubljana.

Czechia and Slovenia aimed to jointly inscribe Plečnik's work on the UNESCO list. However, Slovenia began to pursue the inscription on its own a few years ago, and last year the list expanded to include its most significant buildings in Ljubljana.