The DOCOMOMO community lost a very dear old friend in Klára Kubicková. Born in 1936 in Levice, Klará went through the turbulent history of the republic of Czechoslovakia, WW2, the communist rule from 1948 till 1990 and the independent Slovak republic since 1993.
As art historian curator at the Slovak National Gallery she established its first collection of architecture and was responsible for the creation of the international biennial of architecture cartoons Archikatúra. She curated several exhibitions at the Slovak National Gallery as well as the Czechoslovak presentation in 1991 at the Architecture Biennale in Venice.

As the chairwoman of DOCOMOMO Slovakia Klará organized the memorable 4th international DOCOMOMO conference in 1996. When in 1995, Wessel de Jonge and I visited Bratislava to discuss the ins and outs of the upcoming conference, the representatives of the Slovak Society of Architects and the City Government proudly showed us their proposed conference venue: the Bratislava sports Arena. Ginormous and impressive as it is, it did not fit our requirements of intimacy and the MoMo idea. When I mentioned this in the meeting afterwards it was quiet for a while until Klará came with her brilliant diplomatic move. “ Why don’t we organize the first formal day in Bratislava and move the delegates for the remaining days by bus to the Sliac Spa, designed by Rudolf Stockar in 1931, 200km to the east in the foothills of the Fatra mountains”. The next day we visited the Spa and were immediately taken by its splendid atmosphere. The pleasant radiation of the buildings together with the conference content around the theme of “Universality and Heterogeneity” resulted in one of our most memorable conferences. The Tango night and competition formed the extravagant icing on the cake.

In 1998 Klará stepped down as the chair of the DOCOMOMO Slovak working party, because she took the brave decision to move to Banská Bystrica, to look after her grandchildren and her daughter who got seriously ill. She kept on organizing exhibitions and public events “to ring the alarm bell” when MoMo architecture was threatened.

In 2019 she received the Emil Bellus Award for her lifetime dedication to architecture and in 2020 the President of the Slovak Republic awarded her the Pribina Cross II class for her extraordinary service to the cultural development of the country. Klará’s life story ended on the 25th November 2022.

As the DOCOMOMO community we owe this loving and strong woman our deepest respect and enormous gratitude for her contribution in the early years of our joint effort. Klará thank you so much, we love you!

Hubert-Jan Henket
Co-founder DOCOMOMO International

        It is with sadness that DOCOMOMO Slovakia announces that our dear colleague, architectural historian Klára Kubičková (1936-2022) has passed away.

Klára was one of the first members of DOCOMOMO International and the first chairwoman of the Slovak working chapter. Without her enthusiasm, the remarkable 4th international docomomo conference in Sliač would never have taken place.

During her professional life, Klára fought for the right of the architecture of the modern movement to be protected, and she did not let up in her activities even in her 80s. She has written hundreds of studies and prepared dozens of exhibitions on the architecture of the modern movement in Slovakia, and has excited many young people about the legacy of the modern movement. She will remain a shining example and inspiration for us.

Let’s honor her memory!

Henrieta Moravcikova
DOCOMOMO Slovakia