Rudolf Eitelberger Award 2025 - Announcement of Finalists

The best of architecture, urbanism, and heritage preservation in the Olomouc Region was sought for the ninth time by a professional jury invited by the award organizer, the association Za krásnou Olomouc.

“The award is given every two years to ensure that only truly quality nominations come together,” explains Jana Kiesewetterová, chairwoman of the association. “The ninth edition brought a substantial harvest; from 23 selected buildings and initiatives, a nine-member committee thoroughly acquainted themselves with 11 of them during their travels around the region and selected a total of eight finalists.
In Olomouc, reconstructions traditionally score high. The jury appreciated the reconstruction of the upper floor of the Šibeník fortress for the SVAT Elementary School by the studio of barley by Lukáš and Eva Blažkových as a sensitive restart of a heritage site and an initiatory role for a new urban quarter. For the third time in the history of the award, the studio Sborwitz architekti (Michal Sborwitz – Marie Sborwitzová – Karel Prášil) reached the finals, this time for the reconstruction of the Central cinema in the Olomouc Museum of Art building. The third Olomouc treasure, a somewhat hidden gem, is located in the courtyard of the burgher house No. 33 on Dolní náměstí. “In addition to the project by Vojtěch Rudorfer from the studio LBNK, the jury also appreciated the owner's willingness to invest time and finances into the seemingly invisible part of the urban conservation area. The cultivated and imaginative solution of the courtyard with a gallery shows the potential that neglected corners of our cities have. Even smaller-scale tasks can have high architectural value,” explained jury member, architect Petra Coufal Skalická.
From non-Olomouc buildings, the gym in Drahotuše by the Olomouc studio PAB of Pavel and Jan Pospíšil reached the finals, as did the new library in Mohelnice by the Brno architects Burian – Křivinka. The studio Masparti (Pavel Martinka and Ondřej Spusta) attracted attention with a newly built senior house in Šternberk. From family houses, the project by Szymon Rozwałka for Otaslavice advanced to the finals. One award is for long-term exemplary activity. “Plasterer Jan Tomíček in Šumpersko is restoring historical facades and thus returning beauty and awareness of honest craftsmanship to our villages,” explains the atypical award member of the association Michaela Johnová Čapková.
This year's jury worked in the composition of Rostislav Švácha, František Chupík, Sabina Soušková, Jiří Šobr, Tomáš Pejpek, Martina Koukalová, Lukáš Ehl, Petra Coufal Skalická, Vít Janků.
The name of the absolute winner of this year's edition and the holder of the Eitelberger helmet trophy will be revealed to interested parties on October 4, 2026, at the Central of the Olomouc Museum of Art (Denisova 47). The festive evening, included in the program of Architecture Day, will be conducted by art historian Martina Mertová and commission chairman Rostislav Švácha.
The award's name bears the name of a significant figure, Olomouc native Rudolf Eitelberger (1817–1885), commentator on architectural events, founder of heritage preservation in Austria-Hungary, the first professor of art history at the University of Vienna, and founder of the Applied Arts Museum there.