Brno, the second-largest city in the Czech Republic after Prague, may surprise you. For example, there are monuments in Brno that go beyond their time.

Villa Tugendhat, avant-garde for the 20s of the last century, looks extremely stylish today. The building is recognized as a UNESCO monument. The work of the famous German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe is still one of the four most famous villas in the world.

House in the functionalist style, was built in 1929-1930 for the Tugendhat family's future. The bride's father gave the couple a plot of land. But Fritz and Greta didn't know what the house was supposed to look like. The architect only accepted the wishes: "modern, spacious, light, without intricate forms."

The furniture was mainly made of tubular and strip steel, as well as wood (rosewood, Zebrano, Macassar ebony). The only art object in the interior was a sculpted female bust made by Wilhelm Lembroke in 1913.

The Tugendhat couple lived in the Villa only until 1938, when they had to leave Czechoslovakia under the threat of German expansion. In the autumn of 1939, the building was seized by the Gestapo, and three years later it was registered as the property of the Third Reich. During the war, the Villa was used by aircraft designer and industrialist Willy Messerschmitt. In 1945, the building was taken over by the red Army to house a military unit.

During the bombing of Brno, the explosion smashed all the windows of the main residential building, except one window. This loss almost destroyed the entire architectural concept of the Villa. Fortunately, the technical structure of the building was preserved. After the war, the Villa housed a school of dance gymnastics and an Institute of physical therapy.

In 1969, the house was finally added to the State list of cultural monuments. It was reconstructed in the 1980s. Today, the Villa with its surrounding garden is an object of a Museum and a monument of modern architecture.