Cathedrals everywhere for those with eyes to see.

Modernist Delights is a blog about modernist and brutalist architecture. Find out more.

#brutalism #favourite #manchester #modernism #staircase

Centrum department store, Brno, Czechia, 2026

A wide view shows the tall, glass-fronted Centrum building standing in a city square, with CENTRUM in bold red letters on its roof. Pedestrians walk along the paved street in the foreground, flanked by buildings with tan and dark walls under a partly cloudy blue sky.

A modern, grid-like glass office building stands under a bright blue sky, topped with a large red sign reading CENTRUM. The ground floor features a Lidl supermarket entrance, whilst the reflective glass facade mirrors the surrounding city buildings and clouds.

Built in 1930-31 as a building for the shoe manufacturer Baťa — I’ve written about their Centrální sklad obuvi in Zlín before. It was intended to be the first skyscraper in Europe, at 28 floors. Ultimately, construction was stopped at only 8 floors, due to issues with the subsoil and building foundations, and likely the controversial nature of the project as well, as the site was within the Brno Urban Conservation Area. Ah, well, perhaps they should’ve tried building it in the Northern Quarter instead.

In the 1960s, the building was remodelled, losing its’ trademark black and white striped look with a new all-glass facade.

‘Královna noci’ by Tamara Divišková, Park Koliště, Brno, Czechia, 2026

A large, ceramic-style sculpture stands on a stone plinth in a park, featuring a brown vase-like body with blue and white accents supporting a flat, disc-shaped top. It is positioned on a path between green trees and bushes, with historic buildings visible in the background.

This is one of a series of four statues in Park Koliště, Brno by ceramicist, costume designer, and Brno-native Tamara Divišková. Two of the statues, including this one, “The Queen of the Night”, represent characters from Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute; the remaining two are a bird feeder and bird bath. The statues date from approximately 2002.

The statues are made from glazed ceramic fired in a ceramic water pipe factory in Poštorná, with a polystyrene foam core adding durability. Still, the statues are targeted by vandals. Ms Divišková passed away just last month, in September 2026, but during her lifetime she was known to clean the statues herself.

Knowing the research behind this post, they make perfect sense, but in situ they read as fantastical, almost fairy-tale objects. Beyond the obvious bird feeder and bird bath, all of them feel made with birds in mind. The Queen of the Night was even meant to have flowers growing from her head. That suits their setting in a park, and the artist herself is known to have topped up the feeder with birdseed.

One more fun fact: her father was an early Czech racing driver Karel Divíšek.