OGV — Komenského do 31. 10. 2025 uzavřeno

At the end of the 19th century a museum association was founded in Jihlava. A number of exhibitions of contemporary painters took place in Jihlava before the Second World War. Although an attempt had already been made at that time to establish a city gallery, it was not succeeded until after 1945.

In 1948, after repeated insistence of the Jihlava possibility and the valuable gift of Maria Kovaříková, who donated her lifelong collection of paintings to the city (78 paintings and 1 sculpture), the Picture Gallery of the City of Jihlava was established on October 24th. It was located on the 1st floor of the house No. 14 on Masaryk street and was assigned under the administration of the city museum.

After three years of closure, the gallery was opened on 10 May 1953 in temporary premises in houses no. 57 and 58 on Masaryk Square. In 1960, the gallery was renamed from the Vysočina Regional Gallery to its current name. On October 13, 1964, the gallery was moved from a long-term temporary storage facility to a newly repaired building on ul. Komenský 10, when a permanent exhibition of Czech art of the 20th century was established on the 1st floor.

It was soon discovered that the existing premises were insufficient in capacity and the gallery acquired another object under its management — at Masaryk's house. no. 24. However, the adaptation of this object took a long time and was completed only in 1989, when a permanent exhibition of Czech art of the 19th and 20th centuries and other smaller exhibitions were placed here.

Masaryk Square House
After frequent fires, the form of the original Gothic house can no longer be determined today. The 16th century saw the conversion of the Gothic house into a two-story house with three window axes. The ground floor of the house is typical — a deep trident.
The first two-nave tract served as an entrance hall (sales and production activity, the so-called mázhaus), the second tract was apparently a black kitchen and a staircase to the mezzanine. The third tract is the passage to the yard. Valuable, and unique in the urban environment, is the mirror vault with cutouts around the perimeter. Unfortunately, no monuments have been preserved along the staircase from the 1st floor to the second floor pavilions.

House of Comenius 10
This house was formed by the joining of two neighboring houses in 1864. It can be assumed that they had their 14th century Gothic predecessors here. From the end of the 15th century until the beginning of the 17th century, the house belonged to one of the important families of Jihlava, the Geschls (Left House). The house has a preserved Renaissance portal, a lower entrance hall (so-called mázhaus, vaulted on a central pillar by four fields of ridge vaults. From it one enters through a staircase to the upper floor hall, which forms the central part of the house (Renaissance portal of the staircase). The space of the hall is vaulted by an eight-part vault. On her hood, 8 figures of angels are depicted at the top of the vault a shining star with rays. The main viewing place is occupied by an angel holding in his hands an open Bible with a German quotation from the Psalm of David (No. 146), praising the Lord. According to analogies in other houses, there is an assumption that similar themes were mainly in Protestant premises (singing societies). Six angels play various musical instruments (horn, drum, lute, triangle, flute and guitar). The small upstairs rooms were most likely a black kitchen with a pantry. Both houses were jurists with the right of shenkov. There were maltings near the houses, and large cellars were suitable for the maturation of beer.
1864 — the two houses were bought by the same owners — the Hellers — and connected the two houses.