From Symbols of Modernization to Cultural Heritage—A Discussion on Slovakia’s Postwar Department Stores Prior, Jednota, Dargov, and Ružinov with art historian Karolína Králiková, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Architecture at the Institute of History of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava.

Starting in the 1960s, department stores sprang up throughout Czechoslovakia as part of a planned retail network and became new landmarks in city centers and housing estates. They symbolized progress and modernization, introduced a new way of shopping, shaped public space, and helped define the daily lives of several generations. Today, they tend to evoke mixed reactions among many people, but they remain an unmissable part of both Czech and Slovak communities. What value do department stores from the socialist era hold today?

An art historian will present a typology of postwar department stores using selected examples of Slovak projects ranging from Bratislava to Prešov and smaller regional centers. She will explore their architecture, the circumstances of their creation, and the evolution of this building type within the context of Slovak cities. She will also focus on their current status—renovations, demolitions, historic preservation, and the public’s shifting relationship to buildings from the second half of the 20th century. At the same time, the lecture will prompt us to reflect on how we view late-modernist architecture today and whether the former “temples of consumption” can continue to be an important part of our cities’ identities.

The event is organized by the Brno Architectural Manual.