Magdalena Černá
I’m fascinated with Pilsen for its hidden treasures, and when I say ‘hidden’, I mean it literally. Unexpected residential interiors, designed by the world-renowned architect Adolf Loos, are hidden behind the normal-looking façades of a few homes from the end of the 19th century. Predominately from the time of the first Republic, Adolf created an entire line of various apartment designs for families of the then Pilsen Jewish community. These spaces breathe beauty today just as they did during the period of modern furnishing. However, these rooms also tell the gripping stories of their former inhabitants, whose fates took a turn toward the rather dramatic during the second World War and the following communist era. You can even find the names of some of these people in the Garden of Memories located in the Auxiliary Synagogue (adjacent to the Old Synagogue) in the Kopeckého sady area. The Synagogue might take a little searching to find, but you’ll have no difficulties locating its younger sister; the monumental Great Synagogue on Klatovská třída Street, which is the third largest synagogue in Europe.
Magdalena, the Curator of the Loos Interiors, invites you to discover the hidden stories of Pilsen. She takes her work so seriously that she is often the subject of great coincidences, such as absentmindedly purchasing a coat in the exact same colour as the walls in one of the rooms designed by Adolf Loos himself.