Lecture | Bohuslav Fuchs: Between Plečnik and Central European Modernism
Lecture by the Czech professor and architectural historian, Prof. Dr. Vladimír Šlapeta
On Tuesday, 2 September at 5 p.m., we're hosting Prof. Dr. Vladimír Šlapeta, an exceptional expert on modern architecture and Plečnik’s legacy. His lecture will be dedicated to the 130th anniversary of the birth of architect Bohuslav Fuchs, one of the most important protagonists of Czech Modernism, whom we will get to know through his early connections with Plečnik and the development of his architectural career in the city of Brno.
Among the architects who met Jože Plečnik in Prague at a young age was Bohuslav Fuchs. As a student at the School of Architecture of the Prague Academy and a collaborator of his professor Jan Kotěra, he spent 5 years in Kotěra's villa in Prague's Vinohrady district, just a few dozen meters from Plečnik's residence. In addition, his closest friend was the architect Josef Štěpánek (1889−1964), one of Plečnik's most talented students, with whom he worked in a joint office in 1921−1923.
Plečnik had an undeniable influence on the early work of both Josef Štěpánek and Bohuslav Fuchs. When Bohuslav Fuchs then left for Brno in the spring of 1923, he soon found new ways to modern expression and became one of the most important figures in Czech architecture of the first half of the twentieth century and enriched with his buildings not only Brno – the Moravian metropolis, but a number of other places in Moravia and Slovakia, which achieved international recognition.
Remarkable were also his activities in urbanism and regional planning, in the Czechoslovak CIAM group, but also in design, editorial work in architectural and art magazines and in the education of architects at the Brno Technical University in the years 1945–1958.
About the lecturer:
Prof. Dr. Vladimír Šlapeta is a distinguished architectural historian and educator. He studied at the Czech Technical University in Prague and led the architectural collections at the National Technical Museum in Prague for many years. He also served as Dean of the Faculty of Architecture at the CTU and later in Brno. Throughout his rich career, he has devoted himself to researching Modernism, especially the architecture of Adolf Loos and the generation of architects influenced by him.
The lecture, co-organised with the Faculty of Architecture, University of Ljubljana, will be held in English in the Conference Hall of the City Museum of Ljubljana, Gosposka 15.
Registration is required at prijava@mgml.si or +386 1 24 12 506 (Mon–Fri, 9:00–15:00).
Admission is free.