Tugendhat

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VILA TUGENDHAT

German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969) built a luxury modernist building in Brno - Černá Pole in 1929 - 1930 astonishing by its lightness, elegance and style till these days. Its uniqueness is among others documented by the villa being listed in the UNESCO World Heritage List (since 2001). The building that evoked first controversy as early as at the time of its construction was designed for Grete and Fritz Tugendhat who chose the architect after a visit in Berlin where they were enchanted by an older building of the author. At the time of its construction the building cost approximately CZK 5 million for which 20 usual houses could have been built, indeed. It was a reason why it faced disgrace of the prevailingly left-wing Czech architectonic avant-garde for long time.

The villa is an embodiment of timeless values. The building is unique in nearly all aspects - in its spacious layout, architectural expression, structure conception. What surprises is the precision of the details, should it be the doors, handles, good quality - often exotic - material or the furniture specially designed for needs of the family. The building contained many technical achievements of that era - it was heated by hot air, the enormous glass windows (reaching from the floor to ceiling) plugged into basement spaces after pushing a button associating the garden with the villa interior. The house was secured by an electronic system and fully air-conditioned.

However, the Tugendhat family did not enjoy their residence for long - they only lived here till 1938 when they were forced to escape from the Nazi predicament to Switzerland and later to Venezuela. The house was confiscated by Gestapo in the years of war and adopted to technical offices of the Messerschmitt aircraft plant. After Liberation the villa was occupied by the Red Army that boxed their horses in it and ruined anything they came across. In 1950's the building was subject to national administrator and a callisthenics school was run here. Attempts of the Tugendhat family sustained a check and the villa became an irreversible belonging of the state.

It was not before 1989 when the building was fully opened to public. The villa serves not only as an attractive tourist place but also as a space for high-level meetings. Negotiations of prime-ministers Klaus and Mečiar regarding separation of Czechoslovakia in 1992 took place in the house and the adjacent garden. After many years of preparations the last improvement, whose results cannot be judged yet, started in 2010.