Open doors of architecture
From 2 to 7 October 2025, Architecture Day 2025⬈ will take place in towns and cities across Czechia. The largest Czech architecture festival, which in 2025 is dedicated to the female perspective in architecture, will offer around 450 events!
Prague: The Dancing House with the head of Franz Kafka
If you’re in Prague, you really shouldn’t miss a visit to DOX and the Kunsthalle, two of the most famous contemporary art exhibition spaces, set up in former industrial buildings. At DOX, you can also board the Gulliver airship, an architectural gem in itself!
Another major attraction is the iconic Dancing House, the winner of a prestigious award from the U.S. Time magazine. If you’re out on a stroll around the Vltava River and find yourself on the Náplavka – Rašínovo embankment, you’ll come across “dungeons”, rooms with unique huge round glass doors, containing cosy cafés, clubs and galleries.
There are then another two buildings by the National Theatre – the DRN and the Quadrio. The DRN is an extraordinary new 21st-century palace building, which accentuates greenery, the quality of its public space and its original interior design. And peeking out behind the Quadrio shopping centre, you’ll see a giant rotating head of Franz Kafka, by artist David Černý.
A Former Factory And Slaughterhouse As Architectural Gems
To see some highly successful conversions of former industrial plants, visit Ostrava, or to be more precise, Dolní Vítkovice. There, you’ll find the remarkable Bolt Tower, which has a viewpoint and a café, which “floats” above the former blast furnace.
Not far from that you’ll find the cylindrical multi-purpose Gong Hall, housed in a converted gas holder. At the prestigious Expo Real trade fair in Munich, the Gong was ranked one of the world’s TOP 10 buildings! Concerts are held here, and the site is one of the Czechia’s most attractive congress venues.
And for a change of scene, the nearby Small World of Technology, set up in a former factory hall offers plenty of entertainment for children and adults alike, giving them an insight into the secrets of technology.
Modern art buffs should check out the Plato Gallery in Ostrava, housed in a former slaughterhouse. Its conversion has resulted a stunning blend of raw architecture and art, and has won many international awards.
Fairy-tale palace in Ostrava
In Czechia’s north-eastern region, you can visit the Grossmann Villa, an architectural pearl of Ostrava, described by the contemporary press as a fairy-tale palace. It is special for a number of reasons, from its architectural design and exceptional furnishings, to its spectacular garden. One outstanding feature of the Grossmann Villa is the colourful stained-glass windows that adorn this historical heritage site.
A unique resort in the heart of the countryside
The four-star Forest Resort is located in the picturesque village of Vír, below the reservoir of the same name, about an hour away from Brno. It offers stylish accommodation in luxuriously furnished chalets and rooms on the theme of the fourteen highest mountains of our planet. Surrounded by beautiful countryside, the resort includes a newly-renovated First Republic villa with a restaurant, a large summer garden and facilities for organising social events.
Pavlov: Through concrete labyrinths deep into the past
Some other of Czechia’s architectural gems also form a unique backdrop for valuable museum collections. You can see for yourself at the Pavlov Archaeological Park in South Moravia. Its underground concrete labyrinths, which feel like cave passages, coupled with whitish monuments rising up from the ground and casting light into the surrounding darkness offer a fascinating insight into the extinct world of the mammoth hunters who lived here thousands of years ago. You’d be hard pressed to find a more stylish fusion of the ancient and the modern world.
Cubism that even Picasso himself would envy
As September marked 80 years since the death of Josef Gočár, one of the greatest figures of 20th-century Czech architecture, part of the festival programme will also focus on his work. You can explore the architect’s Cubist and Functionalist legacy in Hradec Králové or in Humpolec, where you will have the chance to visit the Meda Villa, opened to the public only in 2024. In Prague, the programme will take place in one of his most iconic buildings – the Cubist House at the Black Madonna – or in the building of the Academy of Fine Arts’ School of Architecture, designed by Josef Gočár and Jan Kotěra.Cubism is rarely found in architecture, and nowhere else in the world will you find such a concentration of Cubist buildings as in Czechia! Set off, then, to discover more of Gočár’s Cubist masterpieces.
For instance, the city of Pardubice boasts the Cubist building of the Automatic Mills. The interior of this complex, now housing the Gočár Gallery, has been renovated and was even nominated for the Czech Architecture Award 2023. The reconstruction of the mills’ grain silo proved even more successful, making it to the finals of the Czech Architecture Award 2024.
Another Gočár masterpiece – the Bauer Villa – awaits you in Libodřice near Kolín. In addition to the unique architecture, you can admire Cubist furniture and small interior design details within the exhibition, which was only opened to the public in summer 2025.
Or combine your exploration of Cubist architecture with wellness! Gočár’s third building can be found in Lázně Bohdaneč. The Cubist pavilion with its covered colonnade, bearing the name of its architect, still serves today as a peat treatment facility.
Let modernity speak for itself!
Czechia has a rich history, and boasts numerous majestic castles and charming châteaux. It takes an awful lot of courage to break the taboo of their architectural inviolability. However, the result is well worth it.
One of the branches of the Amber Trail that runs through Europe from the Baltic to the Black Sea is still guarded to this day by Helfštýn Castle in Moravia, the stunning conversion of which won it the Czech Architecture Award. The symbiosis of mediaeval stone beauty with modern construction techniques using contemporary materials is sure to impress anyone, not only architecture connoisseurs.
Another example is the modern extension of the neo-Gothic Kamenice Château, just a few kilometres outside Prague. The former residence of the famous Ringhoffer family, the founders of the largest wagon factory in Europe, was extended just a few years ago with the addition of a modern new building reminiscent of a historical orangery. The architects took on a challenging task with this project, and succeeded in creating a building that blends in tastefully with its surroundings and does not disrupt the cultural heritage site in any way. Come and see for yourself!
Helfštýn Castle, ceskacenazaarchitekturu.cz, ©BoysPlayNice Steel giants and a glass house
A unique feat of technical engineering, the Mariánský Bridge over the Elbe River was ranked one of the 10 most beautiful buildings in Europe at the end of the 20th century.. It links the parts of the North Bohemian city of Ústí nad Labem.
On the opposite side of Czechia, a suspension bridge was opened a few years ago in the mountain resort of Dolní Morava, which was ranked first amongst similar bridges around the world. The unique Sky Bridge 721, together with the nearby Sky Walk, is one of the most frequently visited attractions in Czechia.
For another architectural treat, a house with a glass façade, take a trip to Nový Bor. It is home to the glassmaking company LASVIT, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of glass and crystal installations, which makes the trophies for the famous Tour de France and the US Open, and adorns the homes of such iconic figures as Rihanna and Justin Bieber.
Fine cuisine in a stylish setting
How about a romantic dinner in Prague at the famous Ginger & Fred restaurant? On the 7th floor of the unmistakeable Dancing House with its stunning views of Prague Castle and Malá Strana it’ll taste twice as good!
A stunning architectural spectacle – the Miura Hotel in the Beskydy Mountains with its acclaimed hotel restaurant – is designed as a spaceship, one that is home to the family of Krychloids by David Černý. The hotel also showcases other top-class works by artists from Czechia and around the world, such as Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst and Petr Pastrňák.
And where to go for wine? To South Moravia, of course! The list of tips would be endless, but there are two we really should mention. The Znojmo Enotéka, which is located in the converted technical premises of a former brewery in the town centre with a self-service system for tasting wine by the glass, and the Lahofer Winery near Znojmo, which has even featured in some prestigious architectural journals around the world.
To the Winner of the Czech Architecture Award 2024 in the Spa Towns
Since we have mentioned the Czech Architecture Award 2024, let us reveal the winner of the poll. To see it, you will also need to head to a spa town – right to the very heart of Czech spa culture, Karlovy Vary. The most acclaimed building turned out to be the new concert hall in the historic Imperial Baths. Join a guided tour of this stunning building, during which you will also step inside the cultural hall. Or simply buy a ticket⬈ for a concert of the Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra, and admire in action the imaginative design of the award-winning building, which has even been compared to a crab.The Legacy of Zaha Hadid in Prague
Another exceptional architectural achievement of 2024, which received a series of prestigious awards – from Best Building in Central and Eastern Europe at CEEQA to Czech Building of the Year 2024 – is the Masaryčka building, designed by the studio of world-renowned architect Zaha Hadid. The golden, dynamically shaped structure by Masaryk Railway Station was even mentioned in a New York Times article featuring tips on what to see in Prague!When Brutalism Meets Art
One of the major novelties of 2025 is the opening of the Fairmont Golden Prague Hotel – formerly the InterContinental Hotel, an icon of Czech Brutalism and once a showcase of Czechoslovak design and art. The first five-star hotel in the former Czechoslovakia, which hosted, for example, Michael Jackson and US President George Bush Sr., underwent an extensive reconstruction. That the return to the elegance of the legendary building in Pařížská Street has been a success is confirmed by its nomination for Building of the Year 2025. The architects managed to preserve numerous original artworks by celebrated Czech artists, complementing them with modern pieces, such as an eight-metre sculpture by the world-famous Czech glassworks Lasvit. You can admire it at the entrance to the publicly accessible wellness centre.Part of the hotel’s transformation is a glass two-storey extension. Since September 2025, you can visit there the new KodlContemporary gallery of modern art, which presents the work of contemporary Czech and European artists.
