Sgraffito decoration of townhouse

The historical house at the corner of Smetana Square and Váchalova Street (previously Školní Street) with its trio of diaphragm arches gained fame primarily thanks to the activities of the publisher Ladislav Horáček. His Paseka Foundation addressed three pillars of culture in Litomyšl: the restoration of Váchal's paintings in the Portmoneum (03-73), the founding of the School of Restoration (03-3) and the Paseka bookshop in the above-mentioned building, bought by the Paseka Foundation. The life and soul of the building is husband-and-wife team, the Švehlíks, doyens of Litomyšl's amateur theatre scene, who played the roles of a married couple, the Kubas, in Horáček's theatre version of Josef Váchala's Krvavý Román (A Bloody Novel).

Unsurprisingly therefore, the long facade of the premises facing onto the street was decorated, during the 1998 reconstruction, with illustrations in sgraffito form from Váchal's Krvavý Román. Furthermore, space for accommodation was built into the rear tract of the building (guesthouse rooms today). The whole project, including the sgraffito, was initially viewed unfavourably by the Heritage Institute. Eventually however, permission to carry out the new facade was given, although in the end, its original deep (blood) red tone was muted.

The sgraffito work, close in character to woodcutting techniques and accompanied by humorous quotations from Krvavý Román, presents an almost complete range of illustrations from Váchal's literary, artistic and typographical work, as Váchal published his Krvavý Román himself and illustrated it with his own woodcuttings.

The leader of the team of artists – graduates of the Litomyšl School of Restoration and the young local painter Kamil Kopecký – was David Zeman. Eva Vymetalová, Jana Waisserová and Daniel Zillich also cooperated on the sgraffito. Directly above the entrance to the arcade, a monumental title-page depicting a pirate ship from Krvavý Román, heads the illustrations.

Horáček's entire, Litomyšl “dream” was brought to a conclusion with the opening of the restaurant Na Sklípku, which includes a courtyard with a Pavláč (an elevated balcony walkway), enlivened in 2011 with Váchal-style sgraffito artwork by Dana Christianová.