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The Centre of Roma and Sinti will be established in Prague

Department 58 – International Relations
Department 58 – International Relations

Published

The Museum of Romani Culture will open the Centre of Roma and Sinti in Prague (Prage 6 - Dejvice), which will be the first of its kind in the capital. This memory institution will not only present Romani history and spiritual and material culture, but will also become a social and community center offering educational and cultural activities to the general public.

The establishment of this specialized workplace of the Museum of Roma Culture is financed from the Norway Grants - Programme “Human Rights, Roma Inclusion and Domestic and Gender-based Violence“. The donor project partner is The European Wergeland Center from Oslo.

The cultural center will be established in a First Republic villa in Dejvice (Velvarská 1) in Prague. The administrator of this building has been the Museum of Romani Culture since 2019. The exhibition family house in a romanticizing concept with elements of functionalism was designed in 1937 by architects Arnošt Mühlstein and Victor Fürpro for the textile entrepreneur of Jewish origin Leo František Perutz.

The project of reconstruction, which takes into account and respects both historical and architectural values, as well as construction and technical solutions, was prepared by the architectural firm Rujbr Architects. A new element will be the addition of a multifunctional hall with a capacity of 50 people, a meeting room and a café. A gallery space will be created in the attic space. After the reconstruction, the center building will be barrier-free.

According to the work schedule, the completion of the reconstruction is expected in 2022. The Centre of Roma and Sinti in Prague will be opened on March 1, 2023. From June 2022, there will also be an exhibition of fine art of Roma origin in the National Museum and in the Kinský Summer Palace in Smíchov. Among other things, the collection items of the Museum of Romani Culture from the Fine Arts Fund will be presented.

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