The Olomouc landscape architect Jiří Finger has died, a prominent figure in Czech landscape art
Jiří Finger (*March 2, 1938 Jaroměř – †January 24, 2021 Olomouc)
He came from an East Bohemian family of puppeteers who also engaged in garden landscaping. After graduating from high school, he studied landscape architecture, horticulture, and landscape design in Lednice, and then studied architecture at the Czech Technical University in Prague and urban planning at the Brno University of Technology via distance learning.
He briefly worked at the exhibition center in Liberec, and from 1961 in Poděbrady, he succeeded in merging smaller gardens into a spa park imbued with sculptures. In 1964, he worked externally, and two years later he fully assumed the role of chief engineer and leading designer at the Olomouc Flora – here he focused on park renovation for the exhibition center. He was among those who conceptually, organizationally, and in terms of design created its most famous period. In 1967 alone, 850,000 visitors passed through the Olomouc parks; it seemed the question "Will Olomouc become an exhibition city?" was answered. The main goal of the Olomouc team (Finger, Jan Sítař, Jaromír Lakosil, Zdeněk Hynek, Petr Brauner, Zdeněk Štefka) was to make the entire city an exhibition exhibit. Finger also brought in external collaborators: his professor from Lednice Bohdan Wagner, his assistant Ivar Otruba, co-author of the Brussels pavilion at Expo '58, Václav Jasanský, and others. He developed cooperation on both sides of the Iron Curtain. He prepared a concept for international gardening exhibitions; as parks began to be insufficient, he designed their expansion from the base of the Hus Congregation to beyond the racetrack. In addition, he collaborated on specific tasks, such as the design of exhibition pavilions, with Zdeněk Štefka on the Magnolia and Georgian gardens, and with Emil Zavadil on the first Czechoslovak rose garden.
The autumn of 1968 brought an end to the well-coordinated team. Jiří Finger left for a garden institute in Karlsruhe a year later, from where he also designed rooftop gardens across Europe. Upon his return, he found that he had been banned from working in the field for the entire Olomouc district. Although his collaboration with Flora did not end, it was only possible anonymously.
After 1989, he became involved in the restoration of the T. G. Masaryk monument. In the devastated fortress near the Ostrava bypass, he built a design studio with an arboretum ARTFLORA, which he dedicated himself to until his last days.
Photographs from the author's own archive enriched the ongoing exhibition About the City, Landscape, and Art. Olomouc 1919-1989 at the Museum of Art Olomouc.
He came from an East Bohemian family of puppeteers who also engaged in garden landscaping. After graduating from high school, he studied landscape architecture, horticulture, and landscape design in Lednice, and then studied architecture at the Czech Technical University in Prague and urban planning at the Brno University of Technology via distance learning.
He briefly worked at the exhibition center in Liberec, and from 1961 in Poděbrady, he succeeded in merging smaller gardens into a spa park imbued with sculptures. In 1964, he worked externally, and two years later he fully assumed the role of chief engineer and leading designer at the Olomouc Flora – here he focused on park renovation for the exhibition center. He was among those who conceptually, organizationally, and in terms of design created its most famous period. In 1967 alone, 850,000 visitors passed through the Olomouc parks; it seemed the question "Will Olomouc become an exhibition city?" was answered. The main goal of the Olomouc team (Finger, Jan Sítař, Jaromír Lakosil, Zdeněk Hynek, Petr Brauner, Zdeněk Štefka) was to make the entire city an exhibition exhibit. Finger also brought in external collaborators: his professor from Lednice Bohdan Wagner, his assistant Ivar Otruba, co-author of the Brussels pavilion at Expo '58, Václav Jasanský, and others. He developed cooperation on both sides of the Iron Curtain. He prepared a concept for international gardening exhibitions; as parks began to be insufficient, he designed their expansion from the base of the Hus Congregation to beyond the racetrack. In addition, he collaborated on specific tasks, such as the design of exhibition pavilions, with Zdeněk Štefka on the Magnolia and Georgian gardens, and with Emil Zavadil on the first Czechoslovak rose garden.
The autumn of 1968 brought an end to the well-coordinated team. Jiří Finger left for a garden institute in Karlsruhe a year later, from where he also designed rooftop gardens across Europe. Upon his return, he found that he had been banned from working in the field for the entire Olomouc district. Although his collaboration with Flora did not end, it was only possible anonymously.
After 1989, he became involved in the restoration of the T. G. Masaryk monument. In the devastated fortress near the Ostrava bypass, he built a design studio with an arboretum ARTFLORA, which he dedicated himself to until his last days.
Pavel Zatloukal
Photographs from the author's own archive enriched the ongoing exhibition About the City, Landscape, and Art. Olomouc 1919-1989 at the Museum of Art Olomouc.
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