During the war, we experienced the first two air raids in the basement of the apartment house which had been designed by my father
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Miroslav Řepa was born February 24, 1930 in Pardubice. In 1949-1953 he studied the College of Architecture and Civil Engineering in Prague and then the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. He successfully collaborated in architecture competitions under the guidance of professor Fragner, architect Jiří Gočár and architect Jiří Kroha. He gained his experience first as a draftsman in the Military Design Institute in Pardubice and later in the Regional Design Institute in Gottwaldov (present-day Zlín) where he worked until 1961. In 1965, together with architect Vladimír Pýcha he won the competition for the construction of the Czechoslovak Pavilion for the World Exhibition in Montreal. In 1970 he designed the Laterna Magika theatre for the World Exhibition in Osaka in Japan and he became the technical director of the Czechoslovak Pavilion in Expo 92 in Sevilla. Afterwards he participated on the reconstruction of Smetana Theatre and the National Theatre, for which he worked as the head architect since 1976. In 1984-1991 he continued with the reconstruction of Tyl Theatre (present-day Theatre of the Estates). Apart from Czechoslovakia’s participation in World Exhibitions, architect Miroslav Řepa was involved in organizing many important exhibitions. In 1993 the Prague Castle Administration invited him to serve as a curator of an exhibition on Josip Plečnik, which was later displayed in other cities in Europe (Berlin, Brussels, Paris, Vienna) and overseas (New York, Haifa). He was subsequently appointed the head curator of the exhibition Ten Centuries of Architecture which was held in various locations on the premises of the Prague Castle. Miroslav Řepa summarized his experience from the World Exhibitions in the book titled Expo: From Brussels to Aichi which was published in 2005.
