One day we have finally visited the Tugendhat Villa in Brno, in the quarter of Černa Pole, which is situated only 500 metres from my grandparent's house. This building constructed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in 1930 for the family Tugendhat is a masterpiece of the international style in the modern movement. It is a detached house with a floor area of 2000 sq. m. in a residential zone; it has a flat roof and three floors (one facing to the street and three to the garden) with different plans. The entrance is from the street on the north side of the lot, that forms a garden. The uppermost floor includes a terrace, partly open and partly covered, and a balcony. Inside there are an entrance hall, family bedrooms, services, a master bedroom, a dressing room, the garage and the caretaker's lodging. Two stairways bring to the main floor, that has three parts: a part is the main living area (that has large electrically operated windows) with a reception room, a music corner, a study, a library, sitting areas, dining room, services and a winter garden (280 sq. m.), a part that has kitchen facilities and the last one is the servants' area. A stairway brings to the garden floor, that has utility rooms and is used for technical purposes. The house is made of reinforced concrete with steel frames and it's supported by polished still pillars; a steel skeleton also carries ceramic ceiling panels. The exterior of the house is rendered and painted white. In the staircases leading to the garden are used light-coloured travertine tiles and ivory-coloured linoleum in the living hall; the entrance is panelled with dark palisander wood. The back wall of the living area is made of beautiful onyx, brought from the Atlas mountains in Africa, divided in 5m long and 3 m large panels (like the glass wall). The furniture was designed by the architect and some pieces were made specifically for the house (like the Tugendhat chair, in chromium-plated flat steel elements and upholstered in stitched leather) and had a specific place. The house had central heating and an air-conditioning system with a regulated fine-spray humidifying chamber.

Even if it is interesting I was a little bit disappointed by this building and also by its state of conservation, perhaps because I don't like modern architecture like the earlier. It is worth to be visited if you are in or near Brno. I think however that justiefies the inscription because it is one of the biggest masterpieces of modern art and the biggest in Czech Republic and because there aren't many monuments of this type on the WHL. You need booking to visit the interior (there are only guided tours) and it's quite difficult to get there if you don't know Brno.

Photo: Brno - Tugendhat Villa