The repairs of Max Švabinský's cottage are nearing completion

Czech Třebová - The repairs of Max Švabinský's cottage in Kozlov near Czech Třebová will be completed around mid-December. The timbered house, where the painter stayed and created at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, was closed this year due to necessary reconstruction. CTK was informed by architect Vojtěch Kmošek, who is leading the repairs and is focused on folk architecture.

The cottage had to be freed from advanced moisture. There is already drainage around the building. Inside, there is a double floor that ensures moisture does not rise from the ground into the interior.

"It is a proven method; the floor has a twenty-centimeter cavity. Air flows through it by a chimney effect, which carries moisture away from the building. There is also air recovery, addressing moisture directly in the room," Kmošek said.

The poor condition of the building was due to a combination of several factors. In the past, inappropriate remediation was carried out, and according to Kmošek, rescue work was done inconsistently and insufficiently, with wood repeatedly attacked by wood rot.

"It is also due to the way seasonal exhibitions are operated. During the winter, the building is unventilated and unmaintained, which causes moisture problems. Now the measures will work," Kmošek said.

Previously, the cottages were inhabited year-round, and heating them naturally dried them out, Kmošek added. "Due to changes in use, folk buildings are unnecessarily damaged. It is a beautiful cottage with plenty of light. This year, it has suffered more due to the rains because it is on a slope. We are finishing outdoor adjustments; we will sow grass, and we still have tasks inside, such as painting," Kmošek said.

The repairs will cost around three million crowns. The cottage is expected to reopen next May. Typically, around 1500 people visit it during the season, which ends in October. "We will change the exhibition; we have more items in our collection, the kitchen setup will be different, but the white room, as we know it from Max Švabinský's paintings, will look the same," said the director of the museum in Czech Třebová, Jana Voleská.

The cottage is owned by Czech Třebová; it was received as a gift from the painter's adoptive daughter, Zuzana Švabinská, in 2004. The family of Prague railway worker Rudolf Vejrych st. was supposed to spend summers there. Švabinský visited from 1895 to 1919, first as a suitor and later as the husband of Ela Vejrychová. Their marriage soon fell apart because the painter fell in love with Anna Procházková, the wife of painter Rudolf Vejrych.