Periods

The era of the First Czechoslovak Republic in Opava’s architecture was marked by the enduring influence of Vienna, gradually overlaid by new impulses arising from changes in the state order and contemporary architectural discourse. The city council played and active a role, while Prague gained importance as the political capital, and Brno rose to prominence both as the capital of the Land of Moravia-Silesia from 1928 and as a Central European centre of modern architecture. At the same time, nearby Moravská Ostrava was also becoming an industrial metropolis of growing economic significance.
Design and construction work in Opava drew on the talents of local architects (Karl Gottwald, Johann Kalitta, Otto Reichner, among others) and builders (Erich Geldner, Julius Lundwall, Julius Vysloužil, among others), as well as professionals from these other centres. Provincial Building Authority, the Municipal Building Office, and private entrepreneurs all played important roles. Above all, the Viennese architect Leopold Bauer, a native of nearby Krnov, left a mark with two of his most significant late works in realized Opava: the Breda & Weinstein department store and the Church of St. Hedwig. His son Harald Bauer, also trained in Vienna, carried out several smaller commissions in Opava and Silesia. From other Czechoslovak cities came figures such as Gotthard Faika (Prague), Hanuš Zápal (Plzeň), Miloslav Kopřiva (Brno), and the brothers Lubomír and Čestmír Šlapeta (Moravská Ostrava).
Although Opava lost its status as capital of Czechoslovak Silesia in favour of Brno in the second half of the 1920s, the city maintained its cultural and social significance, particularly within the German
community. In this respect, the city’s position in northern Moravia and Silesia was comparable to that of Liberec in Bohemia. This was manifested in the construction of new school buildings and complexes, the reconstruction or adaptation of public buildings and spaces, and efforts to create a modern framework for further urban and architectural development of the city. In this context, more conservatively conceived architecture of neoclassicism, Heimatstil, or decorativism predominated, while urban planning employed principles derived from garden city concepts. In the historic city centre and villa districts, isolated examples of German Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) or functionalism – characteristic of the Czech environment in connection with the formation of Czech elites – occasionally appeared. These conservative foundations became the basis for architectural development in the subsequent historical phase related to the occupation of Opava by Nazi Germany and the period of the Second World War.