The Red Church in Olomouc was opened to the public for the first time

Olomouc - The Red Church on Svobody Street opened to the public for the first time today in modern history. The former book depository of the Scientific Library in Olomouc (VKOL) has transformed into a modern cultural center with a hall for 200 people after two and a half years of reconstruction. It will host not only exhibitions and lectures but also projects by the Moravian Philharmonic and local theaters. The costs of the reconstruction were 172 million crowns, with 133 million crowns returned to the Olomouc Region from grants, said Governor Josef Suchánek (Pirates and STAN) today. The opening of the church will be accompanied by a five-day festival.

According to VKOL director Iveta Ťulpíková, today's opening of the church is a significant moment for the library. "In this beautiful representative hall, we will organize various conferences, discussions, author readings, and exhibitions. There will also be numerous other events; we are opening up the possibility of collaborating with other institutions in the city, such as the Moravian Philharmonic and the Moravian Theater. There will be chamber concerts and theatrical premieres of smaller plays," the director told ČTK. The five-day festival called Starting, which will also include exhibitions and a neighborhood celebration, will conclude on Sunday with the Theater on Cucky staging Imprints.

The desecrated Red Church is connected to the directorate building by a modern extension, which houses the library's information center. According to architect Miroslav Pospíšil, it was not easy to push through the extension to the church. "The idea is often very quick, but it takes a long time to convince everyone around that it is a good idea. We engaged in a long dialogue with conservationists regarding the shape of the extension; it might be the first extension to a church in the Czech Republic. I believe it’s important for historical buildings to be complemented by contemporary architecture in the context of new programs, as without them these structures often have no future," the architect told ČTK.

During the church's reconstruction, the most modern materials were used, including special lighting, which allows for adjusting intensity and combining types of lighting according to the events. The church's windows feature renovated stained glass from the 1980s. The foyer also includes approximately an eight-meter-high wall covered with nearly 10,000 books, which conceals the air conditioning system; the library launched a public collection for gathering publications—donors could write messages in the donated books.

The church has also changed its appearance from the outside, with decorative features catching the attention of passersby. Last April, a crane returned the main cross with a dome, containing archival capsules, to the top of the 120-year-old Red Church. The cross, measuring 3.5 meters, features a nine-kilogram crystal at its center, symbolizing purity, created by Olomouc sculptor Jan Dostál.

The VKOL used the church as a book storage facility since 1959. A total of 300,000 volumes occupied the entire ground floor, the sanctuary, and the choir. However, in 2019, all the library's volumes were moved to a new depository in Olomouc-Hejčín, paving the way for the reconstruction.