Vila Tugendhat je do konce roku vyprodaná, navštívit lze zahradu

photo: www.gotobrno.cz

Brno - Buying tickets for a tour of the Tugendhat villa in Brno, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List, is currently virtually impossible. Tours of the villa, whose construction began 90 years ago, are sold out until the end of the year. Iveta Černá, the director of the villa, told ČTK.

"The tours of the house sold out in March when we opened the reservation for the next six months. As a result, many people are welcoming the alternative of visiting the garden," said Černá. In addition to tours and the garden, people can also see the villa through many cultural events held there, ranging from lectures and classical music concerts to themed evenings and charity events.

Last year, the villa was visited by 50,000 people during tours and various cultural events, which is the maximum. "The interest in tours is four to five times higher than we can accommodate," the villa director stated.

On sunny days, according to her, it happens that up to 300 people are in the villa's garden at the same time. Even though they cannot enter the villa for an admission fee of 50 crowns, they can look into the main glass room and the winter garden from the garden.

"We have not recorded any damage in the garden associated with the visits. People can walk on the lawns, and they can even lie on them, so we take such care of them to ensure they can withstand this load," added Iveta Černá. She said that if the interest in visiting the garden significantly increased, it would be necessary to limit it.

Currently, preparations are underway to connect the gardens of the Tugendhat villa with the neighboring Löw-Beer villa. The two gardens meet at their rear parts, and the Brno city council has already voted on the plan to connect them. The construction of a passage between the two gardens is planned for this September. However, the passage will only be open during the tourist season.

The Museum of the City of Brno, which manages the villa, is not currently planning any major repairs that would require closing the monument. "For maintenance and necessary repairs, we use closing days, and each year we schedule a sanitation week or two for major interventions. After all, this house is a significant experiment. For example, two years ago we had to address leaking on the upper terrace. But regular maintenance is key," added the villa director.

The villa was designed in 1928 by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe for Greta and Fritz Tugendhat. It is unique in its construction, spatial arrangement, interior furnishings, technical background, and integration into nature. For the first time in the history of architecture, a steel supporting structure was used in the construction of a private house.

From 2010 to 2012, the villa was reconstructed with the intention of bringing the building as close as possible to the original design.