The Gallery of the Capital City of Prague will open Bílka Villa on September 1

Prague - The opening of the newly reconstructed villa and studio of František Bílek in Prague's Hradčany will be the main event in this year's program of the Gallery of the Capital City of Prague. According to the gallery's spokesperson Michaela Moučková, this will take place on September 1.
    "This unique building will be reopened to celebrate the 100th anniversary of its establishment," Moučková said today to ČTK. The construction of the two-story building on Mickiewicz Street was, according to her, associated with one of the most successful projects of the Prague City Council from the time before World War I. In 1911, a proposal was developed for the construction of an urban complex on the site of the demolished city walls around the Písecká Gate in the style of English garden cities. One of the architects who designed the individual buildings was also the sculptor František Bílek (1872-1941), who occupies a prominent place in Czech art of the symbolism era not only as an architect but also as a creator of applied art, graphic artist, illustrator, and religious thinker.
    "The villa represents the artist's vision of a wheat field, and the unconventional floor plan is derived from the shape of a scythe. This idea is realized through tall columns shaped like sheaves of wheat that serve as supporting columns carrying the cornice in front of the building's facade. Bílek's villa, like other works of František Bílek, is characterized by the application of symbolic connections between the natural world and the spiritual world; the building is full of hidden religious meanings," said the spokesperson.
    Since 1962, Bílek's villa has belonged to the city of Prague, and since 1963 it has been managed by the Gallery of the Capital City of Prague. The reconstruction, which began in 2008, will enable the creation of a new exhibition authored by art historian Petr Wittlich. A comprehensive publication will be published in collaboration with the gallery and Arbor vitae publishing house. The graphic designer of the catalog and the new exhibition is Robert V. Novák. The gallery will also open Bílek's Center in the villa, where significant archival materials related to the artist's life will be made accessible to researchers.
    According to Moučková, the exhibition of Jiří Anderle had the highest attendance among last year's gallery exhibitions, attracting 23,338 visitors. "The second most visited exhibition was the Prinzhorn Collection, with 12,727 visitors. Following it was the recently concluded exhibition of photographs 'Back Then in the East' with 10,833 viewers," added Moučková.