Smetana Restaurant

The heritage-listed castle brewery in Jindřichův Hradec, with a history spanning more than four centuries, was renovated between 2024 and 2026 at a cost of more than CZK 500 million. Today, it serves as a cultural, social, and dining venue with a modern brewery, a multipurpose hall for more than 300 guests, and the Smetana restaurant. The restaurant’s name pays tribute to the family of composer Bedřich Smetana, who lived here for several years and whose father was the brewery’s brewmaster.
Architects Jan Klaška, Ondřej Peckert, and Jakub Klaška, together with interior designer Darina Pavlíčková, created a cohesive identity for the restaurant, from its name and graphic design to its interior and furnishings. They describe their approach to the design and its realisation as follows:
“The guiding idea of the design was the tension inherent in the brief itself: introducing a contemporary restaurant into a raw historic space. We retained the exposed brick vaults, fragments of original plaster bearing traces of fire, and structural alterations from the socialist era. Into this visually rich setting, we set new elements like jewels, respecting the original structures while deliberately keeping a distance from them. It is precisely the empty space between old and new that allows both layers to stand out and coexist.”
At the heart of the restaurant is a central bar with a beer tap installation reminiscent of a pipe organ. Above it floats a Puro Sparkle pendant, which, like a comet, marks the spot where the beer is poured. Together, they form a striking motif in the restaurant’s visual identity. The pendant’s starburst of matt opal glass tubes diffuses light beneath the historic vaults, developing a motif that runs throughout the interior. The composition is complemented by Mona Large pendant lights, with generously proportioned handblown glass shades suspended from leather straps in colours coordinated with the interior.
In a space with small windows, light plays an essential role, shaping the atmosphere and highlighting the dialogue between historic surfaces and contemporary design. The brewing tradition is also echoed in the backlit vanity tops beneath the washbasins, whose colour and bubble-filled texture evoke beer. These are made of BROKISGLASS, a material produced from recycled glass shards.
The Smetana restaurant is an example of BROKIS’s collaboration with architects who drew inspiration directly from the company’s own premises and from Janštejn Glassworks. Experiencing the craft of glassmaking first-hand allowed them to explore the possibilities of handblown glass and translate that experience into their design.