Lumír Šindelář

Life and work

He was born on 15 January 1925 in Rejdice, today part of Kořenov in the Jablonec district, and died in August 2010 at the age of 85. He worked as a designer, teacher, painter, sculptor, glass artist, jeweller and medallist. He created larger works for Prague churches; the core of his decoration at Vyšehrad consists of three bronze reliefs – busts of Vratislaus II and Elizabeth of the Přemyslid dynasty and a plaque with St John of Nepomuk – and the Vyšehrad ensemble includes up to 33 of his works. He often worked in cycles: in painting in sets of three pictures on one theme, in medals in variations of symbols and historical references, such as his Dante medals or those devoted to Charles IV. His younger brother was the art historian Dušan Šindelář.

Coins and medals

His medals were shown in 1986 in an exhibition at the Moravian Museum in Brno; a catalogue, Lumír Šindelář: Medals, had been published by Otto Herber as early as 1966. Linked with Brno are the medal Pearl of Moravia – Charles's Gift (1978) and the medal for the 50th anniversary of the Brno branch of the Czech Numismatic Society (1987) with a bracteate of Ottokar II and the Mercury fountain; in 2010 he made a medal for the 800th anniversary of the Marian apparition at Křtiny.

From the work in the AUREA range

The AUREA range includes his bronze medal Charles IV – Madonna, Pearl of Moravia – Charles's Gift of 1978, issued in Brno, 58 mm. The obverse shows the head of Charles IV with Saints Cyril and Methodius, the reverse the Brno Palladium building, a star and grapes.