Kotěra Waterworks with a gallery of Buddhist art in Trebon
The author's replica of Jan Kotěra's water tower at Prague's Green Fox was built in Třeboň in 1909.
The Water Tower Gallery in Třeboň is home to a unique collection of Buddhist art from Mongolia, now accessible to the public. The collection was created by Milan Klečka, a native of Třeboň, who worked in Mongolia for several decades. This collection is housed in the reconstructed water tower, which is itself an architectural gem. Since 2017, part of this collection has been owned by the National Museum – Náprstek Museum of Asian, African, and American Cultures. The gallery is managed by the city of Třeboň.
The water tower Na Kopečku was built in 1909 in the style of geometric modernism, based on a design by the prominent Czech architect Prof. Jan Kotěra. It was part of a new water supply system and served to supply the city with drinking water until the late 1960s. The building has been a protected monument since 1988. The unused tower was leased by Milan Klečka in 2005. Over the next eight years, the building was renovated, and spaces were created for his collection, which he gathered in Mongolia in the 1970s and 1980s while working as a geologist.
In 2017, a portion of the collection, totaling 39 paintings, was acquired by the National Museum – Náprstek Museum, which already owns extensive collections of Tibetan Buddhist craftsmanship. These collections were gathered by Czechoslovak experts active in Mongolia from the 1960s onward. Klečka’s collection complements this fascinating effort. The collections are of interest both artistically and ethnographically, as they document Mongolia during a time when it was difficult for Western researchers to access. The religious paintings and temple textiles from Klečka’s collection are unique and are not yet represented in the Náprstek Museum’s holdings or in other Central European museum collections.
The Gallery of Buddhist Art in Třeboň Na Kopečku was opened to the public in May 2018. The city of Třeboň cooperates with the National Museum in Prague to manage 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
How to get there
From the center of Třeboň, walk approximately 1.5 km to the Na Kopečku area.
Additional information
The Buddhist Art Gallery in the water tower, designed by renowned Czech architect Jan Kotěra, offers three extraordinary surprises: a technical monument, an art gallery, and a lookout tower – an unconventional connection of two worlds awaits you in the only tower in Třeboň, at Na Kopečku.
