Obituary

It is with deep sorrow that I inform you that last night, on January 9, 2026, the glass artist and Academy of Fine Arts and Design (VŠVU) pedagogue Václav Cigler left us forever.

In 1965, he founded the Studio of Glass in Architecture at our school, which he led until 1978. This studio was exceptional: it taught students not only glass art and glass technology in connection with architecture, but also guided them toward deeper reflection on art, creativity, and the world in which we live. He was an extraordinary person—remarkably humane, kind, empathetic, and wise. Václav Cigler’s studio was a place of freedom even during the period of normalization. He was able to protect his students from ideological dictates and political themes. As a result, he faced pressure from the nomenklatura rector Ján Kulich, and under this pressure he was forced to leave our school at the end of the 1970s. He never again devoted himself to pedagogical work. He gave the very best of himself to our school and to our students.

When I think about our school, my thoughts always return to Václav Cigler—to how he was able to withstand the adversities of his time and how he maintained a high standard of education during the era of socialism. A part of Václav Cigler lives on in the identity of our school. In recent years, I visited him and spoke to him about you, about your successes, about how the school is doing, and how our students are thriving. He took great joy in us.

He left us at the age of 96.

Please honor his memory with a moment of silence.

Bohunka Koklesová

Rector of VŠVU