Lighting control of Mucha´s monumental work: The Slav Epic – Moravský Krumlov Castle, Czech Republic
Reference
The Slav Epic is a cycle of twenty large-format paintings in which the painter Alfons Mucha captured important events in the history of the Slavic people. Today, in addition to its artistic value, it also has immense historical value. Since 2010 the epic has been registered as a movable cultural monument. The Moravský Krumlov Castle, which is now exhibiting the work, had to meet considerable demands on safety, lighting and temperature and humidity stability in the spaces where the paintings are placed. The Tecomat Foxtrot control system helped meet the high demands on quality of lighting and comfort of use.
Implemented by Sadel PRO, s.r.o. in 2021.
Tecomat Foxtrot and lighting control
A DIN rail system for connecting and controlling up to 512 lights is installed throughout the gallery. A total of 150 directional lights are used to light up the paintings and they are individually controlled by the Tecomat Foxtrot system via DALI buses.
The gallery manager controls the entire lighting system from a computer located at the gallery reception. In the clearly arranged application, he can set different intensity of individual lights and thus create the desired light atmosphere in the gallery. Gallery guides also have the option to turn off or on the lighting in individual sections directly from their mobile phones.
More about the Slav epic and its journey through the Czech Republic...
The cycle was created in the years 1910 - 1928 thanks to the support of Mucha's friend, Charles R. Crane. Over the years, the painter gradually donated individually finished paintings to the city of Prague. From July 2021, the collection is on display in Moravské Krumlov chateau. Twenty monumental canvases were lent by Prague for five years to this South Moravian city, where the work was previously exhibited from 1963 to 2011.
The City of Prague, together with the Gallery of the City of Prague, has set strict conditions for lending and exhibiting works of immense historical value to Moravský Krumlov. Therefore, the exhibition was preceded by the purchase of the castle from a private owner and the reconstruction of its interiors in order to meet the high demands on safety, lighting and temperature and humidity stability. The city of Moravský Krumlov gradually invested more than 50 million Czech crowns in improving exhibition conditions. The castle thus currently meets the highest European parameters for displaying works of art.
Mucha devoted half of his canvases to the history of the Czechs, Moravians and Silesians and their history, religion and culture, and the other half to all Slavs. The creation of really large paintings required large spaces - that's why Mucha rented part of the Zbiroh castle, where he created the cycle from 1910 – in the end it took eighteen years! The seven largest canvases measure 8.1 meters by 6.1 meters. He often stayed at the castle also with his family and his children became his model, too. Mucha prepared for painting each scene by reading, consulting with historians and taking study trips to Croatia, Bulgaria, Poland, Greece and Russia, from where he brought drawings and his own photographs. He saw the whole work as a mission, as a service not only to the Czech nation, but also as his contribution to mutual knowledge and strengthening relationship in the "Family of Slavs".