The Museum of Applied Arts has acquired the cubist Bauer Villa

Libodřice – The Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague (UPM) has acquired the cubist Bauer Villa in Libodřice in the Kolín region. The villa, designed by Josef Gočár, along with other pieces of cubist furniture, was purchased with funds from the Ministry of Culture from the Czech Cubism Foundation for 38.4 million crowns. Today, the symbolic key to the villa was handed over to the museum's director, Radim Vondráček, by Minister of Culture Martin Baxa.

The museum has installed an exhibition dedicated to the Czech phenomenon – cubist architecture, furniture, and home accessories in the villa, which has been open for tours since July this year, attracting around 1,800 visitors so far.

"We have grand plans; I believe this is truly an architectural gem that has international significance, so in the coming days it will be registered on the list of iconic houses, Iconic Houses, as we are submitting an application right now," Vondráček told reporters. According to him, the villa is not only a unique artistic monument but also a place of memory due to the fate of the Bauer family members, most of whom became victims of the Holocaust. "We are considering various accompanying educational programs related to the Bauer family, the fate of the Jewish population in Bohemia, and, of course, cubism," Vondráček added.

"The story of Czech cubism is so unique that the short period of just a few years, during which something happened in the then Czech lands that nowhere else did, is so interesting that it is our duty to take care of it intensively," Baxa said. Several years ago, the state purchased a rare collection of cubist furniture and ceramics for the museum from the foundation.

The offer to sell the villa to the state from the Czech Cubism Foundation came in 2020. The villa itself cost 32.9 million crowns, while the acquisition of the study furniture by Antonín Procházka from 1920 amounted to 5.5 million crowns, and the dining room furniture set by Josef Gočár for Jan Štursa. The interior of the villa presents an exhibition of furniture design and applied arts of cubism, particularly works by Vlastislav Hofman, Pavel Janák, Josef Gočár, Ladislav Machoň, and artifacts from the production of the Artěl cooperative. The cubist interior exhibition complements the permanent exhibition Czech Cubism at the Prague gallery House at the Black Madonna.

"The villa itself is interesting because it demonstrates Gočár's great sensitivity to perceive the local and temporal context of the building," said exhibition curator Lucie Vlčková. Some elements, according to her, reference Baroque architecture, such as the mansard roof, which Gočár could have intended to echo the original Baroque manor. The building has, according to Vlčková, a number of monumental features, such as the main southern facade or the spacious staircase hall. "At the same time, for instance, the proportion of ceiling heights in individual rooms and the width of dimensions have human scales," she added. The original furniture sets have not survived; the foundation gradually purchased them at auctions. "Perhaps the most valuable for us is the set for the sculptor Josefa Mařatka because it is from Vlastislav Hofman from that very first creative period," Vondráček said.

The villa, built between 1912 and 1914, is a unique and stylistically characteristic realization of cubist architecture. It was commissioned by local landowner Adolf Bauer at a time when Gočár's most significant cubist buildings were being constructed - the House at the Black Madonna in Prague and the spa house in Bohdaneč. From 1914 onwards, the villa served as the residence for the Bauer family, according to UPM, until 1931. After the owner's death, it passed to his heirs, and as Jewish property, it was later confiscated by the Protectorate authorities and became municipal property after World War II.

The Czech Cubism Foundation took care of the villa's restoration and reconstruction between 2007 and 2008, having acquired it in a devastated state in 2002. Visitors could tour the villa from 2008 to 2018; it then became clear that it needed to be closed due to inadequate security measures.

The villa was open during the summer from Thursday to Sunday, and in September and October, tours are available on weekends between 10:00 AM and 5:00 PM. From November to March, visits will be possible only by prior appointment. Admission is 120 crowns for a tour without commentary, and 160 crowns for a guided tour.