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Wiehl's house (Wiehlův dům)
Václavské náměstí 34 Praha 1 - Nové Město http://www.praguewelcome.cz/srv/www/en/objects/detail.x?id=63506About
Wiehl house|In the Middle Ages the house with a tower stood at this site. In the end of the 14th century the brewery of Jindřich Berka from Dubá was here, later it belonged to Matěj Žlutický and was called U Žlutických. In the late 19th century the architect Antonin Wiehl bought the house, demolished it, and built a new house here from 1895 to 1896 according to their own plans together with the architect Jan Zeyer. According to the fashion of that time he built one of the most beautiful houses of the Czech neo-renaissance, which is decorated with an octagonal turret rising from the roof ridge above the parapet facade. It carries an observation gallery with railing and at the top there is a bulbous dome with spire and finial. The rich ornamental decoration of facades was made by Josef Fanta and paintings were created by painters Ladislav Novák and Arnošt Hofbauer according to Mikoláš Aleš cardboards. Here they painted a series of six paintings from the life of a wealthy merchant from around the time of Rudolf II. The six painted scenes correspond to the most important stages in the life of merchant. It begins with the baptism of the child, above which there is a nursing mother, as a symbol of motherhood, and the inscription: An old woman weaves – the God only leads thread. On another painting a scholar teaches children about geography and the horse is ready for his first business trip. In the upper part there is a student with a book and the inscription: The tree stands as it grows. In the third painting there is a wedding of the young merchant; there is a girl with an apple of knowledge in her hand above and the inscription says: You got me, you do not care, you lose - you will know. The life of the merchant goes on in the shop; then figure of merchant, whom the king himself solemnly knights for his merits in the defence of their homeland, and then the old man saying goodbye to his son's family. Over the last picture there is Slavic Morena as a symbol of death and the inscription says: “Proti Mořeně není kořeně“ (There is no medicine against Morena). The paintings were restored in the years 1977 to 1978 by the group of restorers led by Jiří Toroň. An author of another belt of ornaments and decoration of the facade above is unknown. The facade of the house has another belt of decorations and other ornaments at the top; the author is unknown.In May 1945, the house was severely damaged and in the 1950s it was repaired by the painter Antonín Brunner, who used a special technique. At that time the arcade was built there and in the 1960s the house was connected to the subway under Wenceslas Square. The general reconstruction was only completed in the late 1990s, i.e. after 100 years. Documents from 1896 were stored in the turret, in the soldered copper pipe. Such messages were once common in the towers of churches, but they were extraordinary in an apartment building. There were newspapers, payroll of workers, reproduction of the hand radiograph and Memorial letter signed by Antonín Wiehl and other house builders. There was also a mention in the deed of the latest inventions of the time that quickly changed people's lives. Documents, supplemented with documents from the time of the reconstruction, were returned for the next generation. In 1998 the house was refurbished after three years. It has one of the largest Academia bookstores with literary café.Antonín Wiehl was one of the most important Czech architects. He is considered the creator of the so-called Czech Neo-Renaissance and is the author of many important buildings such as the Old Town waterworks at Novotný footbridge, City Savings Bank in Rytířská Street, Slavín in Vyšehrad and many others. He was also a member of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Letters and Arts, and a great patriot. His house was bequeathed in the will to the Academy of Sciences, which has been managing it since 1910
