Art Tradition

Where next?

About the company and tradition

The tradition of the Fiala family restoration dates back to 1907.

Josef Fiala, born in 1882, who graduated from the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts was a pupil of Vojtěch Hynais, devoted himself not only to his own artistic work but also to the restoration of paintings and frescoes. His first professional restoration work in 1907 was under the guidance of Professor Vojtěch Hynais and his other pupils under the auspices of the Academy. It was the restoration of the wall frescoes of the dome and ceiling in the Church of St. Nicholas in Old Town Square in Prague, painted by Kosma Damian Assam.

He devoted himself to painting and restoration all his life until the 1950s, when he was forced to curtail his activities under the pressure of the regime of the time and then devoted himself to his own work. In 1963, Josef Fiala died and the Fiala family’s profession was interrupted for several long years.

After democracy was restored in the early 1990s, his great-grandson David Fiala, a trained restorer, founded the Restoration Studio in 1991 in Prague.

After a long stagnation, he continues the restoration and artistic tradition of his ancestor. At first, as an independent worker, he took on small, not very important commissions. Over time, with the quality of the work and the care for his customers, the studio begins to grow with other collaborators. Over the course of about ten years, Atelier Fiala has become a stable company, which continues to expand its operations at its headquarters in the old town of Braník, opening a showroom on Arbes Square and Krčská třída. Subsequently, a branch of its operation in Vysočany.

At the beginning of the new millennium, the company transforms into a limited liability company and begins to add other related businesses.

Fial’s ateliers increasingly consolidate their market position in their field and become a dominant company with a stable team. The company bids for major contracts such as imperial furniture for Schönbrunn and Hofburg castles, the Government Office, the Senate and Prague Castle, the Archbishopric of Prague and Olomouc, castles, museums, galleries and cathedrals.

The largest customer base, however, is the private sector. However, the company’s growth was partially dampened by the economic crisis around 2006. After all, our commodity is a kind of superstructure, and institutions and private individuals limited their investments in this period and in this sector. Our company therefore had to adapt quickly to the situation and reduce its operations. In hindsight, we see this situation as positive and, as they say

“Everything bad is good for something”.

As a stable company, we have successfully weathered this crisis, opening up a market with minimal competition. We have also started to pay more attention to building relationships with our customers and other supporting services. So we did not continue to grow the company, but we are still trying to improve our services and develop more related fields.

That is why in 2013 we opened the House of Art in the former Chvalská Fortress in Prague 9 in Horní Počernice.

Since 2025, we have established Art Akademie, an art school focused on art creation. Our team has therefore grown to include academically trained lecturers who are specialists in particular painting techniques. The entire team of Atelier Fiala works hard to build its prestige with the public and the satisfaction of its customers.

In addition to historical art, we also started to focus on contemporary art. We have built an exhibition hall where we hold exhibitions and we have established a foundation to support emerging artists.