The exhibition about Sial is a success in Liberec, will feature a film about the construction of Ještěd

photo: Jiří Jiroutek

Liberec - An exhibition dedicated to the association of engineers and architects Sial, which has been on display at the Regional Gallery in Liberec since the second half of January, has attracted great interest from visitors. The exhibit, made up of drawings and models of completed buildings as well as unrealized proposals, has so far been visited by around 2,000 people, said Jan Randáček, the gallery director, to ČTK. The exhibition will now also be supplemented by a documentary film about the construction of the Ještěd hotel and transmitter.
    The exhibit was created at the Museum of Art in Olomouc and has been in Liberec since January 20. It will remain open until the last Sunday of March. According to Randáček, the exhibition's attendance, which is inseparably tied to the region, is significantly higher compared to others. Over 250 people attended just the opening, and several dozen visit daily. There was also interest in the guided tour on Thursday.
    "At most, there were about 120 people here in one day, which is a lot for our standards, so we are quite satisfied," Randáček added. The exhibit will now be accompanied by a 22-minute black and white documentary film about the construction of the unique transmitter, which has become a symbol of the city. The film originates from the Liberec district archive.
    It captures the gradual construction of the concrete structure, as well as life on the construction site. It also includes a segment dedicated to the demolition of the original cable car pylons. "The footage is interesting, some of it is rare. There are also shots of nature, Liberec, and so on," the gallery director added. Anyone interested can request to see the film directly in the exhibit, at the spot where the model of the transmitter and hotel at Ještěd stood at the beginning of the exhibition. This model was loaned to Liberec from the National Technical Museum and had to be returned.
    Sial - The group of architects and engineers in Liberec was formed in the second half of the 1960s in Liberec's Stavoprojekt around architect Karel Hubáček, the author of the world-famous television transmitter. The architects managed to keep track of current trends in architecture and apply and gain recognition even in world competition, even during unfavorable times.
    Later, after the onset of normalization, they had to return to Stavoprojekt, but from 1980 they successfully participated in major architectural competitions abroad. Sial also educated. Many architects passed through its ranks, whose works continue to influence the shape of architecture to this day.