Databáze uměleckých výstav v českých zemích 1820 – 1950

The exhibition carrying the simple title Building Cities was intended to introduce the professional and lay public to the current issue of urbanism, which had only been systematically applied in the design of Czech cities from the 19th century onward.

Based on the title page of the catalogue, the exhibition was organized by the Pardubice branch of SIA (Society of Czechoslovak Engineers and Architects) in cooperation with the city of Pardubice and the local Museum of Industry, along with the SIA headquarters in Prague, the Masaryk Academy of Labour, the Union of Czechoslovak Cities and Municipalities, and the Technical Universities in Prague and Brno.

The show consisted of eight main sections: 1. regulation of cities, 2. public buildings, 3. villa colonies, 4. garden cities, and 5. road design, 6. recreation zones, 7. public baths – hygiene, 8. villages – past and present, but it did not follow any coherent concept. On the contrary, its particular themes were presented through considerably heterogeneous material, which the organizers gathered during several educational events preceding the exhibition. Antonín Engel pointed this out in his text for the catalogue: “These are mostly examples of diverse origin, so we cannot expect a unified directive. Nevertheless, they show the importance of all the questions associated with urban design” [Engel 1935].

The activities and exhibitions that preceded the Pardubice show and whose exhibits found their second use there included the International Federation of Housing and Planning in Frankfurt am Main, which addressed the issues of urban renewal, regulation, and the small apartment, illustrated by examples from Czechoslovakia and other countries. Another such event was the Czechoslovak Exhibition at the 1931 International Building Exhibition in Berlin, where Czechoslovakia presented a wide range of issues from housing through the “smoke problem” to the “political foundations of urbanism.” Further material for the Pardubice show came from the 1935 International Housing Congress in Prague. This section focused on seven Czechoslovak cities (Moravská Ostrava, Pardubice, Plzeň, Báňská Bystřice, Žilina, Brno, and Olomouc).

Sections dedicated to this material were followed by four very disparate groups of artifacts that likely had not been exhibited before and reflected the personal interest of the exhibition committee members or associated authorities in the field. The fourth thematic part featured current designs for some Czechoslovak towns (e. g. Doudleby, Ústí nad Labem, and Trnava). The following section – the exhibition of Czechoslovak State Railways – contained plans and photographs of the selected station buildings.

The final section showcased some domestic but exclusively Czech architectural schools, namely the Adolf Liebscher Institute at the Czech Technical University in Brno and the Institutes of Antonín Mendl and Antonín Engel at the Czech Technical University in Prague. Antonín Engel, the doyen of Czech urbanism, had his separate section at the exhibition presenting seven architectural and urban designs. The catalogue lists four more architects (Vojtěch Krch, Alois Mikuškovič, and two Dresden-based architects, Adolf Muesmann and Hans Richter) who sent their work to the exhibition. Especially the award-winning design for the regulation of Rokycany by A. Mikuškovic was praised as a prominent example of the “scientific efforts of younger Czechoslovak architects in the crucial field of urban design and planning” [Kříž 1935].

These “scientific” sections, as the catalogue refers to them, were followed by “industrial” presentations, which resembled trade fairs in their character as they represented various construction firms, Prague-based and regional. 

Although the show took place at the height of the economic crisis, this was a period in which the idea of regulatory planning gradually gained sway in the Czechoslovak administration and urban development. The agenda was regularly on the table at the Institute of Urban Development at the Masaryk Academy of Labour, whose representatives were also members of the Pardubice exhibition’s honorary committee. 

Because of its focus on urbanism and the engagement of a wide range of professional and political groups, the show enjoyed great popularity, with the number of visitors exceeding 3,000. The visitors included the lay public and also representatives of towns and cities, universities, and the military (General Jan Syrový, members of the French army mission). Surprisingly, the majority of the professional periodicals largely ignored the show. 

Das deutsche Nationalkomitee für Wohnungsfürsorge sought to borrow the exhibition and present it in Dresden, but there is no information about whether this plan materialized. 

Although its individual sections were somewhat haphazard in their origin and character, the show was significant because of its focus on contemporary urban design. It was one of the first exhibitions to promote urbanism in Czechoslovakia. 

Vendula Hnídková

Works Cited

Engel 1935: Antonín Engel, Důležitost nauky o stavbě měst (Úvodní slovo), in: Stavba měst (exh. cat.),  Pardubice 1935, p. 8

Kříž 1935: Jar[oslav] Kříž, Výstava „Stavba měst“, Architekt SIA XXXIV, 1935, no. 9, 20. 10., pp. 135–136

Further Reading

Vendula Hnídková, VABU 1935 – významy architektury v poločase třicátých let, in: Sborník UHS, Praha 2022 (in print). 

Antonín Engel, Náměstí Vítězství v Praze-Dejvicích: jeho vznik, vývoj a stavba, Praha 1939

Alois Mikuškovic, Technika stavby měst, Praha 1933

Alois Mikuškovic, Osidlování a přesidlování (kolonisace) v Československé Republice: vydáno prací zvláštní komise Ústavu pro stavbu měst při MAP, s podporou Čsl. nár. výboru pro Mezinárodní kongres bytové péče v Praze r. 1935, Praha 1935

Anonymous author, Výstava – stavba měst, Architekt SIA XXXIV, 1935, no. 8, 20. 9., pp. 118–119

Anonymous author, Výstava „Stavba měst“ v Pardubicích, Architekt SIA XXXIV, 1935, no. 10, 20. 11., p. 160  

Anonymous author, Zahájení výstavy „Stavba měst“ v Pardubicích, Národní listy LXXVII, 1935, no. 261, 22. 9., p. 3

jt, Výstava „Stavba měst“ v Pardubicích, Lidové noviny XLIII, 1935, no. 449, 7. 9., p. 3

Anonymous author, Pardubice: Výstava Stavba měst v Pardubicích, Lidové noviny XLIII, 1935, no. 457, 12. 9., p. 8

jf, Výstava Stavba měst v Pardubicích, Lidové noviny XLIII, 1935, no. 476, 22. 9., p. 9

Anonymous author, Výstava Stavba měst v Pardubicích, Lidové noviny XLIII, 1935, no. 478, 23. 9., p. 3

Anonymous author, Pardubice, Lidové noviny XLIII, 1935, no. 481, 25. 9., p. 8  

tp, Výstavu Stavba měst v Pardubicích..., Lidové noviny XLIII, 1935, no. 500, 6. 10., p. 4

Anonymous author, Ausstellung für Städtebau in Pardubice, Prager Presse XV, 1935, no. 234, 30. 8., p. 5

Anonymous author, Die Städtebau-Ausstellung in Pardubice, Prager Presse XV, 1935, no. 243, 8. 9., p. 8

Anonymous author, Die Städtebau-Ausstellung in Pardubice, Prager Presse XV, 1935, no. 263, 28. 9., p. 8

Anonymous author, Die Ausstellung Städtebau in Pardubice, Prager Presse XV, 1935, no. 270, 6. 10., p. 8

Anonymous author, Výstavy v r. 1935, Venkov XXX, 1935, no. 104, 4. 5., p. 7

es, Výstava stavby měst v Pardubicích, Venkov XXX, 1935, no. 189, 15. 8., p. 5 

Anonymous author, Výstava stavby měst v Pardubicích, Venkov XXX, 1935, no. 202, 30. 8., p. 6

Anonymous author, Výstava stavby měst v Pardubicích, Venkov XXX, 1935, no. 210, 8. 9., p. 5

Anonymous author, Výstava „Stavba měst“ v Pardubicích, Venkov XXX, 1935, no. 233, 6. 10., p. 3

Anonymous author, Výstava „Stavba měst“ v Pardubicích, Východočeský rozhled V, 1935, no. 29, 11. 9., p. 5

Anonymous author, Glosy k urbanistické a stavební výstavě, Východočeský rozhled V, 1935, no. 31, 25. 9., p. 4 

Anonymous author, Výstava „Stavba měst“ v Pardubicích, Vpřed X, 1935, no. 32, 6. 9., p. 6

Anonymous author, Jak rozřešíme stavební problém našich měst?, Vpřed X, 1935, no. 34, 20. 9., p. 3

Anonymous author, Výstava stavba měst, Vpřed X, 1935, no. 35, 27. 9., p. 3

Anonymous author, Výstavu „Stavbu měst“..., Vpřed X, 1935, no. 37, 11. 10., p. 3

Anonymous author, Poslanec Pekárek na výstavě, Vpřed X, 1935, no. 38, 18. 10., p. 3

Anonymous author, Stavební problémy, Vpřed X, 1935, nos. 39–40, 28. 10., p. 7

Anonymous author, Výstava „Stavba měst“ v Pardubicích, Východočeský obzor XXXI, 1935, no. 35, 6. 9., [p. 4]

Anonymous author, Výstavu Stavba měst v Pardubicích, Východočeský obzor XXXI, 1935, no. 40, 11. 10., [p. 3]

Anonymous author, Naše krásné výstaviště z roku 1931..., Východ XVIII, 1935, no. 36, 16. 8., p. 5

ar., Slavnostní zahájení Výstavy Stavba měst v Pardubicích, Východ XVIII, 1935, no. 42, 27. 9., p. 4

Anonymous author, Výstavu „Stavba měst“ v Pardubicích, Východ XVIII, 1935, no. 44, 11. 10., p. 4 

Anonymous author, Výstava „Stavba měst“ v Pardubicích byla prodloužena do 20. října, Východ XVIII, 1935, no. 45, 18. 10., p. 3

Anonymous author, „Stavba měst“, Východočeský republikán XVII, 1935, no. 33, 16. 8., p. 6