150TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MUSEUM OF DECORATIVE ARTS

trial Association approved the proposal to establish an industrial museum.

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During the 19th century Brno became one of the important industrial centres and modern industrial cities in Moravia. It experienced an unprecedented economic, cultural and social boom.

However, the Industrial Revolution also caused a decline in small entrepreneurs. The influence of machine production began to suppress handcrafts, and therefore there was a demand for the establishment of a type of museum that would educate and at the same time improve the forms and level of craft products.

The Industrial Association and the Chamber of Commerce decided to create such an institute, following the example of the London and Vienna museums, and on 2nd May 1873 the General Assembly of the Moravian Indus-

The museum was officially located on Lažanského (today's Moravské) Square, but it did not have its own building. However, since its foundation, there were plans for its construction. Initially, the premises of the old customs house on Lažanského náměstí were considered, but after the city walls were removed, it was a place that was important for the urban development of the city, and the estimated price of the building was therefore very high. The city decided to donate the space between the State Industrial School and the military training ground on today's Husova Street free of charge. However, part of the land belonged to the army, and therefore construction did not begin until 1880 after the ownership problems had been resolved.

The new building was completed in 1883 according to the design of the then director Johann G. Schön and shortly after its opening it was enlarged by a courtyard wing, which almost doubled its area. In 1888, the museum was the venue for the Jubilee Industrial Exhibition as part of the imperial celebrations of the 40th anniversary of the reign of

Emperor Franz Joseph I. With the establishment of the independent Czechoslovak state in 1919, the museum was renamed the Moravian Museum of Arts and Crafts in Brno.

In 1944, the museum was used to house the offices of the Armaments Factory and a year later the building was damaged by bombing. After the Second World War, the building underwent its first reconstruction according to a design by Bohuslav Fuchs. In 1959, the museum was transferred to the administration of the National Gallery, but in 1961 it merged with the Picture Gallery of the Moravian Museum to form a new institution - the Moravian Gallery in Brno. During the 20th century, a number of insensitive interventions were made to the building, which at the same time began to accumulate furnishings in areas that had previously served visitors. A major modernisation was therefore carried out in 1999-2001 and the last complete renovation of the building was completed in the autumn of 2021. The building thus continues to fulfil its original function of mediating artistic and collection activities.