Mydlář House

The Chrudim Puppetry Museum is located in the beautiful Renaissance-style Mydlář House. It is a three-story building, which has two upper floors of loggias with arcades with five arches. The Mydlář House is also characterised by rich figural decorations on the first floor railing. From the left are standing figures representing piety, justice, prudence, and strength, and reclining figures representing peace, war, love, and honesty. The loggia columns are also remarkable. The beams are decorated with clown heads, the portrayal of a bull, a deer, a few roses, and a Christogram of the letters IHS. The third gallery was originally made of sandstone, with a cornice and trim featuring allegorical statues; however, in the early 19th century the walls were demolished due to instability and replaced with wood.

Mydlářovský dům

The house was named after its owner Matej Mydlář, a soap and candle maker, who between 1573 and 1577 undertook the substantial reconstruction of the house into Renaissance style. Shortly after the completion of the reconstruction, he sold the house to his younger brother, Daniel. Daniel is credited with the characteristic minaret-style twin towers. The first tower has five stories with a spiral staircase. The lower part probably served as a living area. The second, higher tower, built to the east, is topped with eight small windows. We can only speculate as to the purpose of their construction. However, since from the beginning they were referred to as an "observatory" it is probable that they served for astronomical observations.

The reconstruction of the Mydlář House had a positive effect on the neighbourhood. Mydlář's neighbors were inspired and started to decorate their houses with diverse architectural elements. Townspeople in other neighborhoods subsequently began building new houses, and thus Chrudim acquired an attractive new appearance in just a few years.

The Mydlář house belonged to several different people outside the Mydlář family. The last known owner of the house was Marie Kozlanská, who bequeathed the house to the town in 1952.