Information centre Vodňany
The Permanent Exhibition of the Gallery
The Memorial Hall of František Herites (1851-1929) introduces a Vodňany native, a pharmacist, a writer of the novels set in the small town, a literary editor, for the certain time also a mayor of the town and especially a leader of the cultural events in Vodňany. The furniture and the things from the Herites family estate create the atmosphere of the town household of the end of the 19th century. Remarkable is also the large family library, where are hidden lots of foreign-language publications, but especially the presents from their literary friends with the personal dedications.
The Memorial Hall of Julius Zeyer (1841-1901) gets to know the 19th century Czech literature important personality. This writer lived in Vodňany in 1887-1889 predominantly in the baroque house “U čápů” and he was a friend of F. Herites and O. Mokrý (1857-1899). Enchanted by
this small town and his surroundings he made a lot of his friends visit it (Z. Braunerová, A. Chittussi, F. Bílek, A. Hejduk) and he wrote many of his books here. Exhibited collection of ceramics, china, glass and textile introduces Zeyer as a passionate collector and traveller. Neo-Rennaissance furniture from the 80s of the 19th century tells us not only about the taste of the owner but also about the need of the men´s household of that time.
The sketches by the famous Czech artist Mikoláš Aleš are situated separately in a special room. The collection of these sketches formed a basic fund of the previous Herites Town Museum, founded in the town in 1905. The sketches present the schemes of the art decoration of The Decanal Church of the Birth of Our Lady. They were drawn in the period 1895 - 1897. Based on the exhibited originals there were realized the interior decorations of the church and grafitto decoration of the north and west church gables. The drawings present the old Czech Saints like St. Wenceslas, Ludmila, Adalbert (Vojtech), Constantin and Method and some others. The sketches with a carp, as a symbol of the town and its fish farming, can be also mentioned as an attraction. Three largest sketches show the decoration designs of the church windows with a central motif of Bethlehem and Three Kings. In the hall with the portrait of Mikoláš Aleš there are situated the sketches (3 drawings) from 1902 for the grafitto decoration of the school in the nearby town of Protivin. They show the scenes of the lives of St. Wenceslas and Jesus. There you can also see the sketch showing Jan Ámos Komenský, The Teacher of Nations. The collection of sketches (only half of it is exhibited) represents the most valuable part of this artist's monumental drawings. Among these drawings there are situated baroque wooden statues of Saints. Originally they were a part of the high altar of the church in Vodňany before re-gothisation at the end of the 19th century. They have been a part of a museum collection since 1974.
There is exhibited the collection of portraits of Vodňany natives and of important personalities of the town ( Žahour and his wife, Šiman and his wife, Otakar Mokrý, Marie Krátká...) and the collection of paintings of Vodňany painters ( V. Štětka, A. Waldhauser, J. Zrzavý...). The interior is completed with the furniture and the objects d´art from their inheritance. In the library there is exhibited incunabulum of the Gelast´s library from the 16th century.
The permanent exposition of the outstanding works of art from the collection of the Town gallery. There are especially paintings of the Czech painters - O. Blažíček, J. Panuška, Jos. Ulman, J. Úprka, K. V. Mašek..., originally included into the collection of the founder of the gallery dr. Blahomír Žahour.
