Josef Gočár

Josef Gočár (1880 - 1945) was a Czech architect. His works, mainly from the cubist and functionalist period, belong to glory of the Czech modern architecture.

As his first solo work is regarded The Red Villa of Josef Binka in Krucemburk (1908-1909). In the following years Gočár designed his most important works in the cubist era - The House of the Black Madonna in Prague and a bath house - the Spa Pavilion of Gočár in Bohdaneč. In years 1909-1910, a significant building in Pardubice – Winternitz´s complex of automated mills was arisen in the picturesque place on the right bank of the river Chrudimka. These buildings are still preserved and make a dominant of Pardubice.

Gočár is also highly appreciated for his contribution to the urban design of some towns, especially Hradec Králové. Gočár gradually designed a zoning plan here, he created a regulatory plan for the waterfront, a building-up in the Elbe valley, schools (Grammer School of J.K.Tyl), the centre of the town (today's Ulrich's Square). Plans of works also included the city circuit road with radial roads into the city cetre and green spaces.
Museum of Eastern Bohemia in Hradec Králové offers an exhibition commemorating the architect Josef Gočár, especially his projects that the architect Josef Gočár designed for Hradec Kralove, but were not realized. The exhibition is supplemented by several three-dimensional models of unrealized projects, computer visualization of urban gallery and design and photographic documentation of selected objects. The event takes place until 26 September 2010.

From April 2010, The Bauer villa in Libodřice near Kolín has been opened to the public. The villa was built for a land-owner Bauer by the architect Josef Gočár in 1912-14 and now there is situated the Museum and Gallery of Cubist design. The villa offers visitors the period atmosphere of the early 20th century.
In the exhibition you can see the preserved elements of the interior, especially the bathroom facilities, fire equipment, built-in wooden wardrobe and a library. Interior is complemented by period cubist furniture and exhibits of fine and decorative arts. Notable examples are from a collection of Cubist ceramics, which is the largest of its kind in the world. On the first floor there is an exhibition on the history and reconstruction of the villa, on Josef Gočár and Czech Cubism as well as monuments of modern architecture in this region. A fence with Cubist elements designed by J. Gočár was built last year. Enjoy the authentic atmosphere of the early 20th century!