Smetana Litomyšl is not only about music. It is ideal to complement a concert or an opera with a visual experience; there are nearly two dozen art exhibitions to choose from.
This unique event, in which all institutions connected with art and based in Litomyšl participate, originally began as an accompanying programme to a music festival. Over the years, however, more and more organizing organizations joined in, until Smetana's Art Litomyšl became an event of its own, extending beyond the Smetana's Litomyšl festival in time and place and enriching the Czech art season.
The cycle of visual art exhibitions is exceptional not only in the number of subjects involved in its organisation, but above all in its scope, which is truly unusual for a town of ten thousand inhabitants. The individual galleries and exhibition halls choose their themes for each year independently and therefore the selection of what can be seen is traditionally really rich. The leading exhibition space is the Chateau Brewery, where the exhibition is organised by the Bohemian Heritage Fund, the main organiser of the whole festival. Other exhibitions are usually in the nearby Church of the Finding of the Holy Cross, from which it is only a few steps to the nearest Pakosta Gallery, and one can continue to the Municipal Gallery or the Miroslav Kubik Gallery, which are located on Litomyšl Square, a three-minute walk away.
The Smetana Art Litomysl catalogue will guide you through the various exhibitions, with detailed information on locations, durations and opening times. Pick it up at any exhibition space, information centres or the ticket office of the Church of the Finding of the Holy Cross.
A few reports from past years of Smetana Art Litomyšl: