From the beginning of the 20th century, the rapid development of the Ostrava region was accompanied by a growing interest in fine art. On 24 January 1923, the Association for the Construction and Maintenance of an Exhibition Pavilion in Moravská Ostrava was founded and subsequently announced a public competition for a new exhibition building that would reflect the most up-to-date international trends in architecture.

The competition jury, whose members included the art historian Václav Vilém Štech and the architects František Vahala and Bohuslav Fuchs, awarded two second prizes to designs by Kamil Roškot and by the architectural duo František Fiala and Vladimír Wallenfels. The latter subsequently prepared the final plans, on the basis of which the House of Art was constructed by the building contractor Rudolf Kaulich.

The exhibition hall was officially opened on 13 May 1926. The Prague-based architects, students of Jan Kotěra and Josef Gočár, designed a progressive building with a purist appearance, characterised by extensive brick wall surfaces. Its exceptional position within contemporary architecture lay above all in the use of skylight illumination in the large exhibition halls, ensuring ideal access to natural daylight for the works on display. Although the operation of a contemporary gallery has required partial technological and functional modifications, the building can still be seen today in a largely intact state.

Translation created with the assistance of AI (ChatGPT).