Moravian Gallery

The exceptional Neo-Renaissance Museum of Applied Arts on Husova street, home to the Moravian Gallery, is an outstanding artistic and historical monument as well as a key component of Brno’s circular boulevard.

The decision to establish a new museum was approved by the Moravian Industrial Association as early as 1873. The building itself was constructed between 1880 and 1883 to house the Museum of Applied Arts, following designs by Johann Georg von Schoen, the institute's Director at the time, in the style of the Florentine Renaissance. The builder was Josef Schubert.

Originally a two-storey structure, the building features a symmetrically designed façade accentuated by side projections, divided into three horizontal zones and highlighted by a classical piano nobile. The construction is topped by a prominent cornice with sculptural decoration. The museum initially had a double-tract layout with a central atrium, which also housed the main exhibition hall. Other public spaces such as the library, lecture hall, and exhibition gallery above the atrium were located on the upper floor. However, shortly after opening, it became clear that the space would not suffice for the museum's expanding operations. By 1888, an extension of two additional tracts and a third floor (converted from the attic) was completed, based on designs by August Prokop, the museum's second Director.

The museum's mission to promote education was reflected in its rich decorations. The statues on the building’s cornice, for example, are replicas of sculptures from the façade of the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. The originals were created by students there, and the replicas became so popular that they were sold across Austria-Hungary. The city of Brno purchased a set for the museum building. 

In 2000-01, the building was renovated to meet the needs of the Museum of Applied Arts of the Moravian Gallery in Brno. The design for the reconstruction, by Ivan Koleček, Viktor Rudiš, and Zdena Vydrová, was based on a simplified version of a proposal by Ivan Koleček from a design competition in the early 1990s. The renovation introduced an atrium separating the original Neo-Renaissance section from Prokop’s earlier extension. The minimalist form of the newly inserted elements brought a fresh spirit to the historic building.

The Moravian Gallery in Brno is a museum of art and design, with a collection of over 200,000 items, making it the second-largest institution of its kind in the Czech Republic. Its collections are presented through permanent and temporary exhibitions.