Zprávy památkové péče 2016, 76(6):571-580

Tugendhat Villa - the first installed monument of modern architecture in the Czech lands

Iveta Černá, Lucie Valdhansová

The Tugendhat Villa, as the only work of the world-famous German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in Czechoslovakia, became his iconic work and is considered the architect's best preserved building in Europe. The villa was built in 1929-1930 by the Tugendhat couple who only inhabited it until the beginning of the Second World War, when they had to flee the Nazis. Their house was given first to the Nazis and later to the Russian army. After the war, the family never returned to Czechoslovakia. The villa was nationalized and used first as a dance school, then as a medical facility, then later, after necessary reconstructions in the early 1980's, as a municipal representative building closed to the public.
The ordeal of restoring the Tugendhat Villa and its accessibility as an installed monument of modern architecture lasted for more than forty years. The first time the house was considered for use was by František Kalivoda in the 1960's, even at the wish of Greta Tugendhat; this finally took place, albeit in imperfect form, in 1994. The long-term plan to restore the monument to its form after completion in 1930, eliminating inappropriate interventions from the Second World War and the second half of the 20th century as associated with other uses of the house, and thus to present the house as it was designed by German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe for Greta and Fritz Tugendhat, was finally fulfilled by 29 February 2012.

Keywords: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe; Fritz and Greta Tugendhat; Bauhaus -Tugendhat Villa; installed monument of modern architecture; heritage conservation; reconstruction; restoration

Published: December 1, 2016  Show citation