Open Depository of the Moravian Gallery in Brno

In May 2025, the Moravian Gallery in Brno began writing a new chapter in its history and launched the first open depository in the Czech Republic.

The new depository in place of former military barracks in Brno-Rečkovice not only stores collections of modern, contemporary, and applied art, but is also open to the public. It offers a new type of art experience where visitors can get a glimpse of the everyday operations of a museum and see how experts care for, digitalize, clean, and conserve the collections. This innovative approach to presenting the collections makes it possible to see, for example, the entire collection of Oriental art, which had not previously been available to the public.

The new depository was designed by Jozef Kubín and Milan Matyáš, who chose monolithic reinforced concrete as the main material for storing the very rare items. The primary material in the interior is bare precast concrete and the space is dominated by a spacially distorted staircase of monolithic reinforced concrete. The architectural modifications to the surrounding space were designed by landscape architect Ing. Zdenek Sendler from Atelier zahradní a krajinářské architektury Sendler.

The expansion of the depository of the Moravian Gallery in Brno was recognized in the South Moravian Building of the Year 2024 competition, where it won the Special Prize from the Association of Construction Business Entities in South Moravia in the Public Facilities category.