Built between 1928 and 1930 in Brno for Fritz and Grete Tugendhat, this villa by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich is one of the pioneering works of modern architecture in Europe. It sits on a slope facing a panoramic view of Špilberk Castle.
An iron frame freed Mies from load-bearing walls, so the main living floor opens as one flowing space. A wall of glass faces the garden, and two of its huge panes can be lowered completely into the floor, like a car window. The rooms have no paintings. Instead, rich natural materials, such as a partly translucent wall of onyx that glows in the evening sun and rare tropical woods, bring warmth to the space. Mies specified all of the furnishings.
The villa was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2001 and has been open as a museum since 1994.
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