Alphonse Maria Mucha was born in the town of Ivancice, Moravia (currently a region of the Czech Republic). In 1871, Mucha became a chorister at the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul, Brno, where he received his secondary school education. It is there that he had his first revelation, in front of the richness of Baroque art. During the four years of studying there, he formed a friendship with Leos Janacek who would become the greatest Czech composer of his generation.
Although his singing abilities allowed him to continue his education through high school, currently known as Gymnazium Brno, trida Kapitaana Jarose 14, in the Moravian capital of Brno, drawing had been his main hobby since childhood. He worked at decorative painting jobs in Moravia, mostly painting theatrical scenery. In 1879, he relocated to Vienna to work for a major Viennese theatrical design company, while informally augmenting his artistic education. When a fire destroyed his employers business during 1881 he returned to Moravia, to do freelance decorative and portrait painting. Count Karl Khuen of Mikulov hired Mucha to decorate Hrušovany Emmahof Castle with murals and was impressed enough that he agreed to sponsor Muchas formal training at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts.