The Jabkenice gamekeeper's lodge, near a large game preserve with beautiful natural scenery, was originally the seat of the forest office of the Thurn-Taxis princes. From 1875, Bedřich Smetana's son-in-law Josef Schwarz, husband of his daughter Žofie, worked here.
It was with them that the deaf Smetana spent the last years of his life (1875–1884) with his family, and many of his most important works were created here. The new, fourth permanent exhibition, opened in 2003, is dedicated to the Jabkenice period of Smetana's life. Through pictorial and written documents, as well as a number of personal and family items, it brings closer the life of Smetana's family and the family of Žofie and Josef Schwarz in Jabkenice, and B. Smetana's contacts with the Mladá Boleslav region even before his arrival in Jabkenice, and documents Smetana's work from the Jabkenice period – especially its performance and dissemination at concerts, opera stages, and through music publishers in Bohemia and abroad.
The core of the exhibition consists of the interiors of Smetana's study and the family salon, reconstructed according to contemporary testimonies and furnished partly with original preserved furniture from Smetana's family and other authentic artifacts. In the hall with a small gallery of paintings by the composer's grandson Zdeněk Schwarz, one can undisturbed listen to Smetana's compositions of their own choice. Since 2004, the Memorial has displayed the restored curtain of the Jabkenice amateur actors, painted in 1877 by the composer's wife Betty Smetanová.
Read more about the exhibition on the Muzeum 3000 portal:
- Tip for a trip – go to Jabkenice to see Smetana!
Bedřich Smetana Memorial
Permanent
