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May 2021
Antonín Kratochvíl: Testimonies
Czech Centre’s Window Gallery & Czech Embassy London (outdoor exhibition) An outdoor exhibition of striking black and white photographs by four-time World Press Photo winner Antonín Kratochvíl. Highly expressive, evocative photographs provide a cross section of Kratochvíl’s work featuring show-business celebrities such as David Bowie and Bernardo Bertolucci as well as war and human catastrophes. With his unique style of photography marked by the depth of his understanding of his subjects Kratochvil, one of the leading representatives of social documentary…
Find out more »The Black Death in Bohemia: a medieval pandemic
A Zoom lecture by Dr Mark Whelan. The coming of the Black Death to Europe was a defining epidemiological event, killing anywhere between twenty-five and eighty percent of the continent’s population in the years 1347-1351. With Covid-19 sweeping the globe, interest in past pandemics and the historical comparisons they may provide has never been higher. This talk examines the impact of plague on Bohemia in the medieval and early modern periods, surveying recent advances in the scholarship and understanding of…
Find out more »The Low-Beer Story behind Schindler’s List and Villa Tugendhat in the Czech Republic
A talk via Zoom by Daniel Low-Beer, a grandson whose surviving relatives never returned to their homeland. Before the Munich Agreement and the Nazi horrors descended on Czechoslovakia, Jews were central to the cultural and economic life of Brno. The Low-Beers were industrialists, textile producers, diplomats, movers and shakers, who were building the new republic after WW1. Some managed to escape, many perished in concentration camps, but none has come back. His father was smuggled to Britain as a toddler,…
Find out more »June 2021
Brutal Beauty: A Video Tour of the Czech Embassy in London
Join us for the premiere of a tour of one the prime examples of Brutalist architecture in London and discover what’s hiding behind the facade of the Czech Embassy. Owen Hatherley, architecture critic and author of Landscapes of Communism: A History through Buildings, will guide you through the recently refurbished London Czech Embassy from its spectacular roof terrace with iconic water towers to the original cinema in the basement. Designed by the leading Czech architectural duo Jan Šrámek and Jan Bočan, in collaboration with…
Find out more »Adolf Loos in Pilsen – the Interiors
One of the great pioneers of Modern architecture, Adolf Loos, between 1907 and 1932 enriched the architectural environment of Pilsen for affluent Jewish clients. They had in common not only commercial, social and family ties, but also a desire for lavish, impressive interiors which he unquestionably satisfied. Born in Brno in 1870, he was famous for the 'Raumplan' (spatial design) as well as for writing the 1908 essay 'Ornament and Crime'. His work can be found throughout Europe including the department store Goldman and Salatsch (1910)…
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