Zprávy památkové péče 2013, 73(4):296-300

Between cour d'honneur, park, and garden: Landscape modifications around Kotěra's museum building in Hradec Králové and its context

Ladislav Zikmund-Lender

The article uses the example of park landscaping around the museum building in Hradec Králové to attempt to reconstruct individual layers of time of this supreme garden realization of Jan Kotěra and to attempt to recall its important intellectual context. The knowledge of the theory of an English house in a Central European environment served as inspiration on the way from a sentimental garden based on the German environment from the end of the 19th century. Kotěra thus has the possibility of moving to a rationally aesthetic position which was closest to him between 1908 and 1914. This is also the period of the high realization of the museum building, whose environment however never underwent the desired and planned form due to the absence of the proposed extensions. Nevertheless, it appears that the present appearance, serving as a kindergarten garden, museum's utility yard, and a part without a residential function, does not correspond to a single historically relevant layer (the condition immediately following completion, and the 20's and 30's). In the context of the city's plan to apply its ensemble of modern architecture for a position on the UNESCO indicative list, the article concludes by suggesting a landscaping of the park around this national cultural property; this would be an allusion to its state prior to the Second World War. This was probably the closest to Kotěra's intention, which was also probably the partial conceptual work of František Thomayer.

Keywords: Jan Kotěra, museum building in Hradec Králové, cour d'honneur, modern architecture, park and garden design

Published: December 1, 2013  Show citation