The Free Academy: Zdeněk Lukeš

This lecture will explore the work of the brilliant Slovenian architect Jože Plečnik at Prague Castle between 1920 and 1935. Plečnik was born in Ljubljana and studied at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, where he was a classmate of the Czech architect Jan Kotěra. In 1910, Kotěra invited his Slovenian colleague to Prague, where Plečnik went on to head the School of Architecture at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design from 1911 to 1921. In 1920, after President Masaryk made him the official architect of Prague Castle as well as the head of the state’s summer residence in Lány, Plečnik, in both places, created a timeless body of work admired worldwide, redesigning courtyards, gardens and interiors. The lecture will also highlight his legacy during the totalitarian era, when many of his works were destroyed (today they are gradually being restored).

Zdeněk Lukeš is a Czech architect, architectural historian, writer and university professor. In addition to writing scholarly and popular articles and books in which he seeks to promote high-quality but often little-known architecture, he also curates exhibitions in collaboration with the Jaroslav Fragner Gallery and organises various lectures and walking tours. He has been working at Prague Castle since the early 1990s.