For five years, the Czech and world public has been able to visit the Tugendhat Villa after its successful restoration. Work on the renovation of the building, which is the only Czech monument of modern architecture, included on UNESCO’s World Heritage list, lasted two years. Villa Tugendhat was then reopened on an exceptional day: 29th February 2012.
The fifth anniversary of the reopening of the Villa Tugendhat is commemorated on 1 March 2017. The road to the recovery of Villa Tugendhat and its opening to the public lasted more than forty years. The first person who thought of it was František Kalivoda in the 1960’s; it was also the desire of Grete Tugendhat. It became reality in 1994, when the villa was opened to the public by the Brno City Museum as the first ever installed monument of modern architecture in the Czech Republic. A long-term intention to restore the monument to its appearance after completion in 1930, to eliminate inappropriate interventions of WW2 and the second half of the 20th century and present the house as a family’s architect, was fulfilled in 2012.
The anniversary will be an occasion to present the second edition of the book Mies in Brno. Villa Tugendhat by editors Iveta Černá and Dagmar Černoušková. It is the first major synthetic work by Czech researchers about this architectural icon. It describes in detail the work of architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the unique spatial arrangement of the house and its placement in the landscape; favourable circumstances during the building period, the history of the house during the war and afterwards, construction adjustments and changes, monument restoration and care. The book also speaks about the Torso by Wilhelm Lehmbruck or the materiality of the villa – from rare wood veneers and onyx to carpet or tiles.
The first edition of the 300-page publication of 2012 was subject of great interest; the second edition was published in 1500 pieces. The new version is expanded to include a chapter relating to the purchase of the original furniture from the descendants of the builders and new photos by David Židlický; existing chapters have been updated. The book is available at Tugendhat Villa Bookshop, the souvenir shop at Špilberk Castle and in some Brno bookstores.
