The memorial to Josef Lada and his daughter Alena is located in the house No. 115, which was used by the Lada family for summer stays. This house was designed in 1933 by architect Čeněk Vořech (1887-1976), a pupil of architect Jan Kotěra.
The house, which we now call Lada's villa, was conceived in such a way that the main entrance led to a hallway, where on the left side was a living room, from which one could go through the veranda to the garden and the kitchen. On the right side were two rooms, one of which could also serve as a living kitchen. The central staircase led up to the first floor. Here was the studio or master's study, two bedrooms, a bathroom and a storeroom. Only the tiled stove, which is in the exhibition dedicated to the work of Lada's daughter Alena, has survived.
The entire building is surrounded by a large garden, which can be divided into two parts, namely the southern and northern. On the southern side, we still have Lada's original mushroom forest. But the northern part has undergone changes. In 2010, sculptures with Lada themes by Tomáš Havlík /Boy with a duck/, Hana Nováková /Lampa/, Pavel Charypar /Sandbox/ and Václav Mašek /Lavičky/ were added to the large grassy area with mature trees. Finally, it is worth mentioning that two huge lime trees still stand right at the entrance, planted by Josef Lada himself to commemorate the birth of his daughters Alena and Eva.
The exposition itself was opened on 18 June 1986 with the participation of Alena Lada and her husband Jan Vrána, and after some changes it is still in use today. In the entrance room, after purchasing a ticket, visitors can view a cycle of twelve months in which Josef Lada captured the traditional customs, entertainment and work of the rural people. They then follow in the footsteps of Josef Lada with a guide. First, they will learn about his life and see family photographs, books with Lada's illustrations for adults and excerpts from Kvítek.
Among his free works, there is a Triptych with Czech Landscape, Pub Brawler and others. Of course, the artist's favourite pipe cannot be missing.
The tour continues to the first floor, where four exhibitions await you. The first is dedicated to Jaroslav Hašek and his most famous novel The Good Soldier Svejk, which is hard to imagine without Lad's pictures. The second one focuses on Lad's art and writing for children. These include, for example, the well-known cat Mikes or Bubaks and hastrmans. A year-long cycle of children's games is presented here. The third room displays Lad's illustrations for storybooks by other authors, which are accompanied by Lad's paintings of watermen and hawks. And finally, you can see the free works and illustrations of his daughter Alena Ladova.