J. Hradec will open a large cultural complex in January

Photo: Michael Patrick Mansfeld

Jindřichův Hradec - Jindřichův Hradec will offer the public an extensive cultural complex starting from January 1, 2012. The current National Museum of Photography will expand to include a tapestry workshop, a center for original local crafts, and unique technologies. In one complex, people will be able to view exhibitions of photography, tapestries, and carved products, said the director of the Jindřichův Hradec National Museum of Photography Miloslav Paulík. The costs for the establishment of this site amounted to nearly 160 million crowns.
    "Photography, tapestry production, and woodworking are crafts that belong to this city, but unfortunately, they are gradually falling into oblivion," said Paulík. "Czech photography holds an important place on a global scale. Therefore, I believe such a stand deserves it," said leading Czech photographer Jindřich Štreit.
    Visitors will see, in one complex, interesting photographs as well as demonstrations of tapestry production or weaving on a loom. Tapestry production has nearly a century-long tradition in Jindřichův Hradec; the workshop in the city was founded in 1910 by Marie Hoppe-Teinitzerová and celebrated successes with her works all over the world. The people of Jindřichův Hradec also signed a contract today with the Prague National Technical Museum, with which they wish to collaborate in the future.
    The complex of the National Museum of Photography, the tapestry workshop, the center for original local crafts, and unique technologies was created by renovating the former castle brewery, Jesuit colleges, and the Jesuit seminary. Out of the total costs of 159.4 million crowns, the city covered 5.3 million crowns. The rest was obtained from a grant from the integrated operational program of the European Union. "The city itself could not afford such an expensive matter from its own resources," stated the mayor of Jindřichův Hradec Stanislav Mrvka (ČSSD) at today's conference on the completion of the project.
    The South Bohemian Region Governor Jiří Zimola (ČSSD) expects that this cultural complex will attract more tourists to Jindřichův Hradec. They can look forward to a photo by the renowned Czech photographer Antonín Kratochvíl, who today dedicated one of his photographs from the Galapagos to the museum.