On Bethlehem Square, there is an exhibition about Czech-Japanese influences in architecture

Prague - The Jaroslav Fragner Gallery has prepared an exhibition that brings closer a hundred-year relationship between Czech and Japanese architecture. Currently, the exterior part of the exhibition is open to the public in the courtyard of the Bethlehem Chapel, which can be visited every day from 10:00 to 19:00. The interior part of the exhibition will be accessible as soon as the epidemic situation allows.

The exhibition presents models, photographs, and artworks, work from Japanese authors who have not been exhibited in the Czech Republic before, and Czech creators whose buildings were created directly in Japan or whose work was significantly influenced by Japanese architecture.

Among the exhibits is a replica of the pavilion model for Expo 1970 in Osaka by architects Viktor Rudiš, Vladimír Palla, and Aleš Jenček. The exhibition also recalls the work of architect Antonín Raymond, of Czech origin, who is considered one of the founders of modern architecture in Japan, as well as the progressive utopian visions of the 1960s that inspired several architects in Czechoslovakia. The industrial palace designed by Jan Letzel, constructed at the beginning of the last century in Hiroshima, is well-known. Its ruins, reminiscent of the events at the end of World War II, are known as the Atomic Dome.

For the exhibition, a tea pavilion was created by Jakub Fišer. There are also artistic works on display by Patrik Hábl, Jindřich Zeithamml, Michal Cihlář, Marek Théo, Veronika Richterová, and Epos 257. Part of the exhibition, which is also planned to be presented in Japan in collaboration with the Czech Centre in Tokyo, will include a freely available short online video documentary introducing the exhibition and specific works.

The project was prepared as part of the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of relations between Japan and the Czech Republic. Contacts between Japan and the Czech lands began as early as pre-modern times, and their flourishing was significantly supported by the international phenomenon of fascination with Japan or Japonism. The intense interest in the architecture of both countries began in the 1920s. Two years after the formation of the independent republic, official diplomatic relations were established.