Kotěra Waterworks with a gallery of Buddhist art in Trebon

In the water tower in Trebon, a unique collection of Buddhist art from Mongolia is open to the public. The collection is a unique collection of the Třeboň native, Milan Klečka, who has worked in Mongolia for several decades. The collection is located in a renovated water tower, which is itself an architectural monument. From 2017, part of the collection is the property of the National Museum - Naprstek Museum of Asian, African and American Cultures. The gallery will be run by the town of Třeboň. The water tower at Na Kopečku was built in 1909 in the style of geometric modernity, according to the design of the famous Czech architect prof. Jana Kotěra. It was part of a new water supply system. The waterworks served to supply the town with drinking water until the late 1960s. The building has been protected since 1988. The unused tower was rented to Milan by Klecka in 2005. Over the next eight years, the building has been reconstructed and created premises for its collection, which he gathered in the 1970s and 1980s in Mongolia, where he worked as a geologist. Part of the collection, a total of 39 paintings, was acquired in 2017 by the National Museum - Naprstek Museum, which holds large collections of artistic craftsmanship of Tibetan Buddhism. The Czechoslovak experts, who have been active in Mongolia since the 1960s, have gathered them. Mr. Klečka's collection completes this interesting collection activity. The collections are interesting both from an artistic-historical and ethnographic point of view, as they testify about Mongolia at a time when it was difficult for Western researchers to find. Religious paintings and temple fabrics from Kleck's collection are unique, they are not yet in the collections of the Náprstek Museum and are not even in collections of museums in Central Europe. The Gallery of Buddhist Art in Trebon Na Kopecku opens to the public in May 2018. The city of Třeboň will cooperate with the National Museum in Prague during the operation of the tower.

Gallery opening hours (guided tours only): 

May, June, September - weekends and public holidays, every hour 10 am - 4 pm -

July, August - Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday every hour 10 am - 5 pm

Information on accompanying events: www.itrebon.cz