In 2000, Petr Mikšíček set out on a three-month, 1,000 kilometer trek through the border mountains of the Czech Republic. This was also the start of his life’s journey, in which he’s trying to preserve the disappearing memory of the Krušné hory region. He organizes land-art gatherings in the former village of Königsmühle, documents and revives monuments using new technology, and makes movies based on legends and stories of the region. In the interview, we discussed the re-discovered borderlands, the culture of Krušné hory, contemporary Czech‑German relations, growing tourism, as well as transformations to the landscape of the Sudetenland.

The Dobruška cemetery, with the dominant Church of the Holy Ghost and the onion domed bell tower, is situated on a hill to the east from the city and is surrounded by a marlstone wall. The area in front of the cemetery is crossed by an old lime avenue separating the new funeral hall from the parking lot. The funeral hall references the nearby chapel with its size, uses materials typical for the area, but its form is contemporary – it is based on the principle of progressive horizontal layering. On top of the sandstone brickwork that reaches as high as the cemetery wall, there is a glazed strip ending with a ledge with timber cladding. Above this level rises the main volume of the hall with a facade of cleft larch shingles, interrupted by one window only, high on the eastern wall and bending into the plane of the roof. The hall with 50 seats is situated in the center of the layout and is surrounded by a circle of auxiliary rooms and sanitary facilities for the public and visitors to the cemetery.

What is a border? “Primarily, nothing more and nothing less than a real or imagined line, setting two things apart,” wrote the prominent Austrian philosopher Konrad P. Liessmann.1 According to him, a border is a precondition for us to be able to perceive and experience something. If everything was undifferentiated, there wouldn’t be anything to identify. Generally speaking, borders are important because that’s where two different powers always meet and can enrich each other. Thanks to the positive tension between them, the periphery allows for impulses and innovations to emerge, even if they couldn’t thrive in the center.

V čísle #05/2018 časopisu ERA21, věnovaném stému výročí založení československého státu, jsme otiskli rozhovor s „výročním starcem“ Karlem Kroupou. Pozornému čtenáři jistě neuniklo, že jeho postava je smyšlená a celý rozhovor je literárním dílem, do kterého jeho autor Rostislav Koryčánek mistrně zakomponoval zajímavé momenty uplynulých sta let, a to nejen z oblasti architektury, ale i důležité události národní historie. Životní cesta Karla Kroupy se přesto nápadně podobá osudu jiného, téměř stoletého architekta, z jehož archivu pocházejí fotografie, kterými jsme inkriminovaný rozhovor doprovodili. Kdo tedy byl Vladimír Matoušek?

Letošní léto strávil Osamu Okamura v Chicagu, kde jako stipendista Fulbright-Masarykova programu na vlastní kůži zakoušel fungování Chicagské architektonické nadace, jedné z největších a nejúspěšnějších architektonických kulturních institucí na světě. Jaké jsou jeho postřehy?