Kludského vila, Neo-Renaissance villa in Vinařice, Jirkov, Czech Republic
Kludského vila is a Neo-Renaissance residential villa at Vinařická 363 in the Vinařice district of Jirkov, built in the second half of the 19th century about 500 metres from the main square. Its entrance gate is fitted with metal sculptures of a lion and a lioness. Since 2010 the building has housed the Jirkov Municipal Library.
The villa was built in the second half of the 19th century for the Jirkov textile entrepreneur Karel Kühne (1830–1903); his widow Melitta inherited it. In 1920 the circus owner Karel Kludský Sr. bought it and set up a winter quarters and menagerie for his Circus Kludský on the land behind it. After February 1948 the house was nationalised and the Kludský family evicted; it later served as a military headquarters and from 1968 as a school.
The building now functions as Jirkov's municipal library, displaying historical circus posters and photographs documenting the Kludský family's circus legacy.
The villa stands at Vinařická 363 in the Vinařice district, about 500 metres from Jirkov's main square. Since 2010 it has housed the Jirkov Municipal Library, so the building is entered as a library rather than a museum. The former circus grounds behind the house, once a winter quarters and menagerie, are not described in the sources as public parkland.
The villa's entrance gate was fitted with metal sculptures of a lion and a lioness, a trace of the menagerie Karel Kludský Sr. kept on the land behind the house: lions, tigers, elephants, zebras, tapirs and llamas. The circus winter quarters stood about 500 metres from Jirkov's main square.
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