Gočár's gallery in Pardubice will be expanded, the project will be completed in four years

Pardubice - The project to expand the Gočár Gallery in Pardubice will be completed in about four years. The Pardubice region currently has an initial study. An additional part of the gallery with exhibition spaces or an educational studio is to be created in a concrete silo that once served as a flour storage. Roman Línek (Coalition for Pardubice Region/KDU-ČSL), a regional councilor, told ČTK.

The Gočár Gallery is located in former automatic mills designed by Josef Gočár. The main part was completed in 1911. The region converted the main building of the mills into a gallery and opened it in 2023. It has already announced that the institution will expand with additional spaces estimated to cost 200 million crowns excluding VAT.

The architectural competition for the completion was won last year by the Košice office Doxa. According to the jury, their design offered the most stimuli for development. The assignment was to transform the concrete silo from 1959 to 1961 for gallery purposes. The architects proposed to remove the facade from the silo and add a new section with offices and operational facilities. "We are finalizing negotiations on a contract with the winner of the competition, next year they would work on the comments, and then the project will continue; it is work for several years, I estimate completion in four years," said Línek.

The final form of the new section is not yet precisely determined; according to Línek, there could ultimately be more spaces for short-term exhibitions, as part of the collections could be moved to Ohrazenice, where the region has a facility. The gallery also wishes for a studio for educating children and adults.

"For now, we have to make do with what we have; we look forward to the new extension and are glad that it is in progress. Visitors to the gallery can currently view an artistic metal visualization on the fourth floor of the gallery, created by the winning studio Doxa from Košice," said the gallery director Klára Zářecká.