--- title: "Maměnka at Pustevny: Jurkovič's Art Nouveau lodge" description: "Maměnka is Dušan Jurkovič's Art Nouveau lodge at Pustevny. Its history since 1899, its rescue from demolition, and the guest rooms still in use today." url: "https://zpusteven.cz/en/mamenka" lang: "en" latitude: 49.4895236 longitude: 18.2659174 --- ![The Maměnka lodge at Pustevny: a tall log building with shingle roofs, red-and-white balconies and carved turrets, surrounded by grass and mature trees](https://d.zpusteven.cz/place/mamenka/1280/IMG_0105.avif) Mountain lodge • Pustevny • national cultural monument # Maměnka A house due for demolition after the war was saved by its own architect, shortly before his death. It still takes guests. - **Built:** 1897–1899 - **Architect:** Dušan Samo Jurkovič - **Originally:** 15 rooms and a shared dormitory - **Today:** reopened in 2003; 11 rooms ## The lodge nobody pulled down Maměnka is the **second of Jurkovič's pair** of lodges at [Pustevny](https://zpusteven.cz/en/pustevny). Meals are cooked in [Libušín](https://zpusteven.cz/en/libusin); Maměnka is where you **stay the night**. It opened in 1899 with fifteen rooms and a shared dormitory. It survived the war, the threat of demolition and closure in the 1980s. It still stands in its **original form**, and **has taken guests again since 2003**. ![Maměnka up close: the gable with its sun fan, wooden balconies with a white-and-red balustrade, a shingle roof and a turret with an onion dome](https://d.zpusteven.cz/place/mamenka/1280/IMG_0109.avif) Maměnka is tall and full of detail - balconies, turrets and a sun fan in the gable. Why come here ### Jurkovič's original building from 1899 Neighbouring Libušín is a **faithful copy** built after the fire. Maměnka is the original house from the late 19th century - its timber remembers the first tourists, and it still works as a **hotel**. Not to be missed ### Balconies outside, a painted ceiling inside Outside, **balconies, turrets and the sun fan in the gable**; inside, the **painted ornament and carved furniture** of the rooms. The [Libušín](https://zpusteven.cz/en/libusin) dining hall stands next door. When to stay ### All year - whenever suits you In the evening and early in the morning, once the day trippers have left, staying guests have the saddle to themselves. ![DJI_0873.avif](https://d.zpusteven.cz/place/mamenka/1280/DJI_0873.avif) ![DJI_0874.avif](https://d.zpusteven.cz/place/mamenka/1280/DJI_0874.avif) ![DJI_0883.avif](https://d.zpusteven.cz/place/mamenka/1280/DJI_0883.avif) On the walls and ceilings ### Painted ornament Instead of figural scenes (Libušín is full of those), here you find **floral and geometric ornament** - a band below the ceiling, hanging motifs on the walls, decorated beams and carved doors. Furniture ### Carved bed heads, corner wardrobes Beds with **fan-shaped heads**, carved corner wardrobes, wooden crowns above the window drapery. The furniture keeps to the vocabulary of the house - building and furnishings work as one whole. Textiles and details ### Tapestries and yellow curtains Woven tapestries with **floral motifs** hang in the rooms, and the windows are framed by yellow drapery and lace curtains. The colours are muted: yellow, green, pink. ![A room with a double bed, a floral tapestry above the bed heads, painted ornament on the wall and a striped carpet](https://d.zpusteven.cz/place/mamenka/1280/IMG_0120.avif) ![Two beds with carved fan-shaped heads, bedside tables with lamps and shelves with ceramics in the corner of the room](https://d.zpusteven.cz/place/mamenka/1280/IMG_0142.avif) ![A woven tapestry with large pale flowers on the wall of a room, painted ornament beside it and wooden shelves with ceramics](https://d.zpusteven.cz/place/mamenka/1280/IMG_0143.avif) ![A carved corner wardrobe between two windows with lace curtains, an upholstered armchair in front of it](https://d.zpusteven.cz/place/mamenka/1280/IMG_0135.avif) ![A corner room in Maměnka with three windows: yellow drapery beneath carved crowns, a painted band of flowers below the green beamed ceiling, two armchairs with a table and a corner wardrobe](https://d.zpusteven.cz/place/mamenka/1280/IMG_0132.avif) ![IMG_0144.avif](https://d.zpusteven.cz/place/mamenka/1280/IMG_0144.avif)![IMG_0123.avif](https://d.zpusteven.cz/place/mamenka/1280/IMG_0123.avif)![IMG_0138.avif](https://d.zpusteven.cz/place/mamenka/1280/IMG_0138.avif) ## The story of Maměnka Built for tourists who wanted to sleep in the mountains. Twice it was to disappear - and each time it was saved. 1897–1899 ### A house to sleep in Pohorská jednota Radhošť ordered the new lodges at Pustevny from the Vsetín building firm of **Michal Urbánek**. The design was drawn up by the young **Dušan Samo Jurkovič**, who gave the two buildings clear roles: [Libušín](https://zpusteven.cz/en/libusin) became the dining hall, Maměnka the house to sleep in. Both opened on **6 August 1899**. Maměnka was built as a mountain lodge with **fifteen rooms and a shared dormitory**. Anyone wanting privacy took a room; anyone counting the cost slept in the dormitory. One house thus accommodated both the demanding guest and the walker on a tight budget. The tall, richly articulated building with its balconies, turrets and the sun fan in the gable is folk Art Nouveau in its purest form: the log walls and shingles of Wallachian farmhouses, the vocabulary of Vienna. ![A hand-coloured glass slide from around 1910: the Maměnka lodge on a slope, a wooden building with balconies and turrets, a meadow in the foreground; the plate carries the period caption “Pustevny - vila Maměnka”](https://d.zpusteven.cz/ccmedia/1024/mamenka-diapozitiv-1910.avif) Maměnka around 1910, still in its best years. Four decades later the same building was being talked about as a candidate for demolition. Foto: [Neznámý autor, Národní muzeum, eSbírky](https://www.esbirky.cz/predmet/pustevny-11793247), [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) 1945–1947 ### Demolish, or save - **1947:** Jurkovič pleads for them - **1950:** Pohorská jednota dissolved - **the 1980s:** Maměnka closed In the closing stage of the Second World War the lodges were used to billet military units and fell into such disrepair that **demolition was considered** after the war. Pohorská jednota Radhošť, which owned them, had no money for repairs. #### Their architect came to plead for them himself Their architect came to Pustevny himself at that point - Dušan Samo Jurkovič, then almost eighty - and pleaded in person for them to be saved. According to reports of the time he remarked that he would not design such buildings any more: they were not durable enough for this climate. He died shortly afterwards, in December 1947. 1950–2003 ### Eighteen years of silence and a fresh start After Pohorská jednota Radhošť was dissolved in **1950**, Maměnka passed into state ownership. The state enterprise **Valašské hotely a restaurace** repaired the run-down building, whose demolition had been under discussion three years earlier, and brought it back into use for guests. It stayed open after further repairs in the **1960s**, but the building kept deteriorating until it had to be closed in the mid-**1980s** as unsafe. For the next 18 years it stood entirely out of use. A thorough reconstruction came with [Valašské muzeum v přírodě](https://zpusteven.cz/en/valasske-muzeum-v-prirode). The work began in **1995**, when the Pustevny complex was declared a **national cultural monument** and passed into the museum's care. The dining hall in Libušín came back into use first, in **1999**, and Maměnka opened in **2003**. It now offers **eleven rooms** - after eighteen empty years, the house is doing again what it was built for. ![A sitting corner in a Maměnka room: two armchairs by a small table beneath windows with yellow drapery, and a carved corner wardrobe beside them](https://d.zpusteven.cz/place/mamenka/1280/IMG_0127.avif) Timeline ## Maměnka in dates From the opening of the lodge through the war and the threat of demolition to eighteen years of silence and a fresh start in 2003. 1. 1897–1899 ### Building the pair of lodges Pohorská jednota Radhošť builds the Libušín dining hall and the Maměnka lodge to a design by **Dušan Samo Jurkovič**. 2. 6 August 1899 ### The opening Maměnka opens as a lodge with **fifteen rooms and a shared dormitory**. 3. 1945 ### The lodges run down In the closing stage of the war the buildings are used to billet military units and fall into such disrepair that demolition is considered. 4. 1947 ### Jurkovič pleads for them The architect, then almost eighty, comes to Pustevny in person and pleads for his buildings to be saved. He dies in December of the same year. 5. 1950 ### The end of Pohorská jednota The association is dissolved and the lodges pass into state ownership. The state enterprise **Valašské hotely a restaurace** repairs the run-down Maměnka and brings it back into use for guests. 6. the 1980s ### Closure Maměnka has to close as unsafe and faces destruction again. For the next **eighteen years** it stands entirely out of use. Valašské muzeum v přírodě comes up with the idea of a thorough reconstruction. 7. 1995 ### National cultural monument The Pustevny complex is declared a **national cultural monument**, the Rožnov museum Valašské muzeum v přírodě takes over its care and the reconstruction begins. 8. 2003 ### Maměnka opens After Libušín (1999), Maměnka comes back into use as well - today with **eleven rooms**. 9. 2014 ### Fire next door Much of neighbouring Libušín burns down. **Maměnka comes through the fire** - the timber from the late 19th century is still in it. Visit ## How to get to Maměnka ### Where exactly #### In the Pustevny saddle, right next to Libušín Maměnka stands by the main path through the saddle, a short way above [Brána Pusteven](https://zpusteven.cz/en/brana-pusteven) and right next to the [Libušín](https://zpusteven.cz/en/libusin) dining hall. ##### Otevřít v mapách [Mapy.com](https://mapy.com/en/zakladni?x=18.2659174&y=49.4895236&z=17&source=coor&id=18.2659174,49.4895236) · [Google Maps](https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=49.4895236,18.2659174) ##### Other places nearby [Libušín](https://zpusteven.cz/en/libusin) · [Brána Pusteven](https://zpusteven.cz/en/brana-pusteven) · [Mořské oko](https://zpusteven.cz/en/morske-oko) · [Cyrilka Cave](https://zpusteven.cz/cyrilka-cave) · [The Cyrilka lookout pavilion](https://zpusteven.cz/en/altan-cyrilka) · [The Radegast statue](https://zpusteven.cz/en/socha-radegasta) · [Čertův mlýn](https://zpusteven.cz/en/certuv-mlyn) · [Kněhyně](https://zpusteven.cz/en/knehyne) The ridge walk from Pustevny ### Getting here The simplest starting point for a visit to Maměnka is Pustevny. Getting to Pustevny is covered by the [Pustevny page](https://zpusteven.cz/en/pustevny). 1. 1 #### [Pustevny](https://zpusteven.cz/en/pustevny) starting point You can reach Pustevny by car, by bus, by bike and by chairlift. Whichever you choose, you end up right in the saddle where Maměnka stands. 2. #### Maměnka destination · a few minutes across the saddle · you are here You will recognise Maměnka by its height: it is the richly articulated building with balconies, turrets and a sun fan in the gable - right next to Libušín. 3. ↓ #### Onward: Libušín and the ridge a few steps · the ridge walk beyond Right next door stands [Libušín](https://zpusteven.cz/en/libusin) with its painted dining hall. The ridge walk from the saddle leads in several directions - the [Pustevny page](https://zpusteven.cz/en/pustevny#vylety) has an overview of the walks. From the southern end of the saddle (from the chairlift from Ráztoka) the lodges are a similarly short walk - just from the other side. ### Before you set out #### Inside only as a guest Maměnka serves its original purpose - it is a **hotel**. You can walk round it from the outside at any time, but you only get inside as a **staying guest**: there is no room open for viewing and no public tour of the interior. #### Weather in the saddle The saddle at **1,018 m a.s.l.** is colder and windier than the valley - an extra layer is worth taking even in summer. Na závěr ## Doplňující info a test znalostí ### Rychlá rekapitulace **Can I stay at Maměnka?** Yes. Maměnka serves its original purpose - it is a hotel with eleven rooms. It is run by a private tenant; check the current offer and opening times with the operator. **Can I look inside without staying?** No. Maměnka has no room open for viewing and no public tour of the interior - you only get inside as a staying guest. You can look at it from the outside at any time. **Why was Maměnka closed for so long?** It was closed as unsafe in the mid-1980s and stood out of use for another eighteen years. It only reopened in 2003, after reconstruction under Valašské muzeum v přírodě. **Who looks after Maměnka?** The building belongs to the Rožnov museum Valašské muzeum v přírodě, today part of the state-run Národní muzeum v přírodě. The Rožnov museum took the Pustevny complex into its care in 1995. The hotel itself is run by a private tenant. Where next ## Where to go on from Maměnka Maměnka stands in the middle of the saddle - the story continues next door and along the ridge. [Libušín](https://zpusteven.cz/en/libusin) - The dining hall next door · A painted hall after designs by Mikoláš Aleš - a building brought back to life by scientific reconstruction after the 2014 fire. · Přejít na stránku → [Pustevny](https://zpusteven.cz/en/pustevny) - The whole Pustevny saddle · Transport, parking, the chairlift and the junction of ridge paths - a guide to the whole complex. · Přejít na stránku → [The Radegast statue](https://zpusteven.cz/en/socha-radegasta) - The ridge walk to the god's statue · From the lodges the ridge path leads to the Radegast statue and on to Radhošť. · Přejít na stránku → [Radhošť and the Chapel of Saints Cyril and Methodius](https://zpusteven.cz/en/radhost) - The end of the ridge walk: Radhošť · Czechia's highest religious building, a short way beyond the Radegast statue. · Přejít na stránku → --- Source: [Maměnka at Pustevny: Jurkovič's Art Nouveau lodge](https://zpusteven.cz/en/mamenka) - zPusteven.cz. When citing, please link to the page.