Frýdek-Místek is preparing the establishment of a new cultural landmark for the city

Frýdek-Místek – Frýdek-Místek is preparing the creation of a new cultural landmark for the city. The existing monument-protected National House with a historic hall and the planned city gallery in the former National Savings Bank should be connected by an extension designed under the leadership of the world-renowned architect Eva Jiřičná. The spokesperson of the magistrate, Jana Jeckelová Musálková, informed the journalists about this today. Both original historical buildings will need to be reconstructed; the construction of the new stage with a large hall alone is expected to cost approximately 350 million crowns.

"Plans for the construction of a larger hall have been emerging for over 100 years. The hall in the National House has a capacity of 400 people, but it has no elevation, so the audience sits on one level. This of course corresponds to the time it was built. Additionally, acoustically it has a long reverberation. It sounds wonderful for a violin concert or a quartet, but the sound is poorly carried in the hall during spoken word and electronic amplification. It is important to realize that we are the only statutory city without the necessary cultural infrastructure. Even smaller towns like Orlová or Třinec have spacious cultural halls," noted the councilor for culture Jakub Tichý (Pirates).

According to the deputy mayor for investments and finance Jiří Kajzar (Our City F-M), the National House and the former savings bank have long been in poor technical condition, and their reconstruction is essential. All three parts of the cultural landmark are to be connected by a hall that will ensure the symbiosis of all spaces.

"Our intention was to connect all three entities of the National Savings Bank, the National House, and the new stage into one functional cultural representative unit in the city center, which has been achieved in the completed study," Kajzar believes.

According to him, the city is capable of financing the construction from its budget. "The planned grant will help us, as well as the newly established reserve for the reconstruction and construction of city investments, which is created from the proceeds of the sale of unnecessary assets. By the end of this year, there should be over 60 million crowns saved there,” Kajzar stated. Frýdek-Místek is expected to have expenditures of 1.623 billion crowns in this year's budget, approved in December.

The future cultural center is expected to offer halls, rehearsal rooms, and other necessary facilities for performing artists. The city wants to begin preparing the project documentation and will attempt to obtain grant money after the preparatory phase. Reconstruction and construction of the new hall could begin in 2024 and 2025.