Rostislav Švácha: Architect Alena Šrámková - Lecture at Fiducia

A lecture by a leading Czech art historian on a significant Czech architect.
Alena Šrámková (1929–2022) was the first Czech architect whose work achieved the same significance as that of male architects. She fought hard to reach a prominent position in domestic architecture. She achieved this with the ČKD building (now New Yorker) in Prague on Můstek, which contemporary critics regarded as the most important work of Czech postmodernism. However, Alena Šrámková was more interested in expressing an idea of normality, ordinariness, and truthfulness; she wished for her work not to succumb to fashion and for us not to quickly discern the era and style in which her buildings were created. She did not look favorably upon consumer society and preferred to educate people toward proper values. The lecture will highlight the most important projects and buildings by Alena Šrámková, with a certain emphasis on her works in northern and central Moravia.