Museum of Romani Culture to present its project for a Center of the Roma and Sinti in the Czech capital

The Museum of Romani Culture is planning a festive introduction of its Center of the Roma and Sinti in Prague on Thursday, 26 March at 11:30. A press conference about the project will be held at Thákurova 1, Praha 6 (Masarykova kolej), just one tram stop from the Dejvická metro station.

Journalists and others interested in the project will be familiarized with its content and schedule at that time. The course of events will be:

Program:

11:00 Initiation, performance by Trio Carlos Vlasák (Manouche Gypsy swing).

11:05 Introduction of the project of the Center of the Roma and Sinti in Prague together with the press conference.

11:35 Questions from the media and those present.

12:00 Refreshments, more music from the Trio Carlos Vlasák.

12:30 Guided tour of the headquarters of the future Center of the Roma and Sinti, Velvarská 1, Praha-Dejvice.

The Center will be housed in a protected heritage building. The single-family home in the Dejvice neighborhood of Prague was designed for the textile entrepreneur of Jewish origin Leo František Perutz by the architects Arnošt Mühlstein and Victor Fürth.

The villa at Velvarská 1 was built in 1937 in a romanticized conception with elements of functionalism. In recent years it has not been permanently occupied, but has frequently served as a film set, for example, for the Czech film Ženy v pokušení (Women in Temptation).

Since 2019 the villa has been administered by the Brno-based Museum of Romani Culture, which is currently preparing its comprehensive reconstruction in order to use it as a specialized workplace, the Center of the Roma and Sinti, in Prague. The project is being financed by Norway Grants 2014-2021 from its Human Rights program.