Vesna and Leoš Janáček

Janáček cooperated with this educational institution

Vesna was a women’s educational association that had been originally established in 1870 as a singing club. Not long after it was founded, it started to focus on educating girls and women in Czech and providing lessons in Czech, history, teaching, pedagogy, and practical handiwork. František Mareš was its long-time director and a capable organiser. The association built its first school in Údolní Street and later expanded to include a building in the adjacent Jaselská Street, with a decorative interior designed by the architect Dušan Jurkovič.

Vesna soon became a major educational institution, cooperating with various painters, writers, and musicians, including Leoš Janáček, who gave a number of lectures there. Janáček’s daughter Olga attended the institution and his wife Zdenka helped to organise some of its activities.