Cubist Architecture - Black Madonna House Prague

Catalogue number	0671
Date of issue	9.2.2011
Face value	14 CZK
Print sheets	8 pcs
Size of picture	40 x 26 mm
Graphic designer	Jan Kavan
Engraver	Vaclav Fajt

The Black Madonna House is a masterpiece of Czech Cubist architecture. The house, located at Prague's Old Town between Celetna street and Ovocny trh square, was designed by Czech architect Josef Gocar and built in 1911-12. The house, named after the Baroque statue of Black Madonna in an alcove on the facade, hosts the Prague's National Gallery Museum of Czech Cubism.
The Black Madonna House was built on the site of the former Baroque Granovsky house, whose name it adopted, for merchant František Herbst who wanted to use it as a department store. The interesting thing is that Gocar's first design was refused by the Prague City Hall due to a lack of harmony with the historical neighbourhood. Gočár responded to the allegations by adding further Cubist features, such as more pronounced Cubist entrance or balcony railing.
Gocar originally planned a wine shop in the basement, café on the ground floor, textile store on the first floor, office space on the third and residential space on the fourth floors. All interior decorations, including furniture and other details, had also a Cubist design.
Allegations of unfashionableness hunted the building since its creation, leading to the closure of the café as early as the 1920s. The ongoing trend of transformation of the house culminated in the 1950s when the entire house became an office building used by exhibition firm Výstavnictví.
During an early 1990s reconstruction project, led by Karel Prager, the house was returned to its original shape, old paintings were removed and a missing glass roof section completed to match Gocar's initial design. The house was reopened to the public at a ceremony, attended by former President Vaclav Havel, October 18th, 1994, and became the venue of the Czech Museum of Fine Arts, with a permanent exhibition of Czech Cubism in a part of the house. A replica statue, carved of wood with multicolour finish, of the original Black Madonna was mounted in an alcove on the facade in 2000. The house was added to the National Heritage List as a cultural site in 2010.
The museum removed its collections in 2002, but the Czech Cubism exhibition was reopened in 2003 as part of the National Gallery's activities. The Grand Café Orient on the first floor was reopened in 2005.
The Czech Ministry of Culture used the house in the early 1990s to secure a credit, worth some CZK 300 million, for launching a lottery (so-called "Ceska lotynka"). The project failed, and the house faced a threat of becoming a bank property. The government overcame the situation by borrowing a loan through its agency, the State Culture Fund, from another bank (Komercni banka) to repay the original credit.

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