Between 2003 and 2006, Classicist-style Kern House, which is located on the southwest corner of Rybárska Brána Street and Hviezdoslav Square on the site of former city fortifications and an older house, underwent a comprehensive renovation and adaptation led by the architects Vladimír Vršanský and Pavol Senecký. Conversion of the attic of this national cultural monument into luxury housing required the creation of new openings that would provide natural light to the attic space. Among other works, a large triangular pediment (gable extension) with a glass tympanum was added above the cornice of the façade facing Rybárska Brána Street. Additionally, the triangular brick tympanum facing Hviezdoslav Square was replaced with glass panels that were complemented by the work Danube Pastorale by the sculptor Martin Lettrich.
The scene, which Lettrich created in collaboration with the architect Vladimír Vršanský (architectural context) and the docent Palo Mach (fish made of fused glass), was created along with other artistic elements at the request of the building’s then owner, who financed the restoration and renovation. As the title of the work suggests, it depicts an idyllic scene celebrating life along the Danube River: at the centre of the tympanum, a stylised aluminium sculpture of a heron hovers above aluminium waves in which two fish, depicted in fused glass as abstract reliefs, shimmer in various colours to the left and right.
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Research status as of 16. 07. 2024.