Zprávy památkové péče 2020, 80(1):64-75 | DOI: 10.56112/zpp.2020.1.08

The Imperial Hall of the Bučovice Castle in the 20th century - documentation, restoration and presentation

Zdeňka Míchalová, Jan Vojtěchovský, Lucia Krajčírová

Fakulta restaurování Univerzity Pardubice

The interiors of the castle in Bučovice, built in the last quarter of the 16th century by Jan Šembera Černohorský of Boskovice with the help of the Imperial antiquarian Jacop Strada, are an exceptionally high-quality example of Mannerist art in Moravia. The representative areas lost their original purpose with the change in the castle's function and were used to store the archives of the Liechtenstein accountant from the end of the 18th century until the end of World War II. The utilitarian use of the most valuable premises of the castle continued for a while after the war. After the castle was assumed by the National Cultural Commission, the building was one of those that were earmarked with priority to be opened to the public. In the case of Bučovice, this was supposed to be the establishment of a museum of Renaissance housing culture in the castle interior, so the first stage was the restoration of representative rooms on the ground floor. The rich file material and historical photo documentation now permits us to reconstruct the course of the extensive restoration with relative accuracy. The method by which the hall was to be restored and presented was created by representatives of post-war heritage care institutions; first the National Cultural Commission, later the State Heritage Administration, then the State Heritage Office for Moravia and Silesia and the Regional National Committee in Brno.
Restoration began in 1952 in the Imperial Hall, where the richest decorations (stucco statues, reliefs, murals, and panel paintings mounted on the vault) were preserved. The works were commissioned to the Prague cooperative Tvar (Shape), which was established in 1948 as an institution associating artists and restorers. The head of the restoration section, architect František Mayerhoffer, designed the first concept of the restoration intervention on behalf of the cooperative. The work itself was carried out by sculptor Miroslav Böswart and painter Antonín Erhardt, who presented his experience with restoration work in Italy and Germany. The first phase of the restoration involved the cleaning of the stucco decorations, and it was decided that minor additions to the damaged statues would be made. A conservation procedure with neutral retouching was carried out on the grotesque painting of the vault. The first year of the work, however, saw a fundamental change in the restoration team. The painter Erhardt left Bučovice under unclear circumstances and was replaced by the painter Kutílek and other unnamed collaborators of the Tvar team. The new workers repaired the bezels behind the stucco figures, where extensive areas were overpainted, as well as the paintings in the window niches where serious problems later appeared. Eventually, cooperation with the Tvar cooperative was completely terminated, and in 1954, František Fišer, one of the most experienced experts in the field of mural painting, was called to the site; he expressed significant criticism of the previous work. The criticism was particularly targeted towards the use of incorrect fixation, which caused the colored layers in the window frames and the background of the lunettes to fall away. In addition to repairing the stucco decorations, the Imperial Hall underwent three restoration works on the paintings within a short time: neutral retouching, extensive repainting, and repair of incorrect fixation. František Fišer's work was not entirely satisfactory either, however, which is why František Sysel continued to repair the lintels in the 1980s. His work, however, remained unfinished. Other modifications to the hall, such as the replacement of the Renaissance doors or the replacement of the original brick floor with marble, were motivated by an effort to present the property as best as possible but did not respect the authentic details. In the end, the representatives of the participating institutions themselves declared this to be a demanding event in post-war Moravia with which there had been no previous experience.

Keywords: restoration, renaissance wall painting, renaissance stucco, 1950s, Bučovice, Miroslav Böswart, Antonín Erhardt, František Fišer, František Sysel, National Cultural Commission, State Heritage Administration

Published: March 1, 2020  Show citation