Alois Dryák

24 February 1872, Brandýsek (Olšany district) – 6 June 1932, Prague

Alois Dryák studied decorative architecture at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague under Friedrich (often referred to by his Czech name Bedřich) Ohmann and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. Bedřich Bendelmayer, his close friend and collaborator on many projects, was his classmate there. He was an active member of the Czech gymnastics organization Sokol and designed the architecture of the Sokol mass gymnastic stadiums in Letná and the Great Strahov Stadium. Dryák tried to protect the architecture of the Old Town of Prague and participated in the protests against its urban renewal in the early 20^th century.

Dryák’s early work was influenced primarily by floral Art Nouveau. Together with Bendelmayer, he worked on the Central Hotel in Hybernská Street in Prague, then on the Evropa Hotel (with Bendelmayer, Jan Letzel and others). He is co-author of two monuments that are essential parts of Prague public spaces: Saint Wenceslas Monument on Wenceslas Square with a statue by Josef Václav Myslbek, and František Palacký Monument, on which he collaborated with the sculptor Stanislav Sucharda. After the First World War, he designed the Rondocubist Radio Palace building in Vinohrady in Prague. He used functionalist elements in projects commissioned by the City of Prague, e.g. the Great Strahov Stadium, whose capacity of 250 thousand people makes it the sports venue with the largest area in the world, and the building of the Faculty of Law of Masaryk University in Brno.