Villa Tugendhat, Moravia, Czech Republic

5KatarinaB 5:00 PM Aug 17, 2021

A modern architecture gem
This unique house is alone worth coming to Brno. It's beautifully and thoughtfully restored and preserved from the insides, to the herb garden and the grounds. You really get a feeling of how it was to live in this architectural break through house. You'll even get to see how the mechanisms of the house worked (air, heat...). The staff is very knowledgable, various languages is a given.

5dkaval 5:00 PM Jan 6, 2013

Highlight of Trip to the Area
If you enjoy architecture, especially minimalistic, you should tour the Tungenhut Villa in Brno. It is necessary to plan ahead, as tours sell out, especially the limited number of tours in English and German. When we got to the villa, the gate was locked, but after several minutes, a guide came, unlocked the gate, and let us in. She did the same for each new arrival. The tickets tell you to arrive 15 minutes before the start of your tour. I suppose if everyone shows up and people are waiting for no shows in the hopes they can get a ticket at the last minute, they might give away your tickets. But I'm guessing they just don't want any latecomers because once the guide starts the tour, there might not be anyone around to let you in. And it does take a few minutes to exchange the printout for your actual ticket. I was surprised how close the villa was to the street and to see how small it seemed. At the beginning I wondered how the tour was going to take 1 1/2 hours. But the house is built into the side of a hill, and the lower floor isn't apparent at first. And the guide gives you a lot of history in addition to the tour of the house and an explanation of how it was built. Nevertheless, it is not a large house. Our guide's English was decent although I wouldn't say fluent. All in all, I would say the admission price was worth it, especially the senior price of 210 CZK. What did seem to be excessive was the charge to take pictures of the interior. That cost me more than the admission price. They will have you sign a statement that you will not use the photographs for commercial purposes, and they give you a sticker to identify that you are allowed to take photos. I paid the fee, and my friend bought a postcard of the main room and the onyx wall. I did see a few people hanging back behind the group occasionally to take a photo with theIr cell phones. Recommendations: 1. Buy your tickets in advance on their website. Two words that are not translated or explained are Plné and Snížené--regular price and reduced price. I took a chance and selected the reduced rate since we would qualify in the US for a senior rate. As it turned out, we didn't need any special Czech-issued cards. The site takes you to another site to pay, similar to Paypal. I wasn't sure everything worked until I got an email confirmation. We bought the tickets a month before and got four of the last five tickets for the only tour that worked for us. (The Villa is closed on Mondays, one of the two days we were in the area.) Be sure to print out the confirmation--you will need to exchange it at the gate for the actual tickets. 2. That being said, there were only 10 in our tour group (they take up to 15), so either some people cancelled or just didn't show up. 3. There is only one English tour per day, usually at 15:00 (occasionally at 11:00). Click on the days you are considering, and it shows what is available. There are two types of tours--standard (one hour) and technical (1 1/2 hours.) The technical tour includes the basement and the mechanicals of the building, which I found interesting. Only the technical tour is available in English. Most of the tours are in Czech--one per day is also in German, but you can get printed descriptions in other languages if you ask when you check in. 4. Do a search in the Brno forum for Tungenhut Villa for suggestions on parking, other than what you find on the website. 5. If you are looking for a restaurant in the area of the Villa, I highly recommend Cafe Era. 6. Follow GCEK'S suggestions in the Brno Forum about parking near Videnska and take a tram into the city--or all the way to the Villa or Cafe Era. 7. Rather than walking to the Villa from the city center as we did (or Cafe Era, about six blocks beyond the Villa), take a tram. There's not that much to see along the way, and you'll have more time in the city center of Brno. Or take the #5 tram from Videnska to the Villa. If you are going to Cafe Era for lunch, make sure you get there no later than 13:30 if your tour is at 15:00, and let the waiter know. There is a tram that stops closer to Cafe Era, but I'm not sure which one. 8. Print out a city map in advance. We wasted time trying to find the tourist center. 9. I highly recommend reading The Glass Room by Simon Mawer if you plan to visit the villa. Although based loosely on the family and the villa with some made-up embellishments, it will enhance your intrigue of the villa. 10. Children would probably be bored.