Brno offered Masaryk University the purchase of the Scala cinema building for one crown

Brno - Mayor Markéta Vaňková (ODS) today, on behalf of the Brno leadership, offered the rector of Masaryk University, Martin Bareš, the option to buy the building that has housed the Bolka Polívka Theatre and the university cinema Scala for a symbolic price of one crown. The building has structural damage, and both the theatre and cinema must relocate. The city, which owns the building and leases it to both institutions, informed about the offer in a press release. If the university buys the building, it will have to invest in its renovation.

"Masaryk University, together with its partners, makes high-quality and meaningful use of the building housing the Scala cinema and Bolka Polívka Theatre year-round and wants to continue doing so in the future. From the city's side, it's a clear declaration that it is not considering selling real estate on Jakubské and Moravské squares to developers and that it is interested in maintaining a strong cultural and academic community in the center of Brno," Vaňková stated. She added that the city continues to cooperate with the university in searching for alternative spaces for the Scala cinema and is working on modifications to the Břetislav Bakala Hall for the Bolka Polívka Theatre.

The city owns the building located between Jakubské and Moravské squares. The structure, which contains the auditoriums, was built almost 100 years ago. It is a reinforced concrete building that reflects the construction and material solutions of its time. During the preparation for the roof renovation, experts discovered cracks whose age and severity were uncertain at first. In February, monitoring devices began tracking the cracks, which allowed both institutions to complete the season. A summer construction-technical survey revealed that there are problems with the load-bearing columns at the ceiling level above the cinema. The city has planned further construction-technical surveys for January and February of next year.