The Liberec Region took over the municipal baths building with a gallery from the city

Liberec - The Liberec Region has become the owner of the former building of the municipal baths in Liberec, where the Regional Gallery has been located for six years. The building, the reconstruction of which was largely funded by the European Union, previously belonged to the regional city of Liberec. The region took ownership of the heritage-listed building on February 3, spokesman for the region Jan Mikulička said today. The reconstruction of the historic bath building and the construction of a modern depository cost 380 million crowns, 85 percent of which was covered by European Union funds.

The Liberec municipal baths on Masaryk Street are among the most valuable monuments in the city. They were built between 1900 and 1902 according to a design by Viennese architect Peter Paul Brang. The historic building stood empty for many years while the city sought a use for it. Ultimately, the city hall agreed with the region to move the gallery there, which had been located in the spatially and technically inadequate neo-Renaissance Liebieg Palace. In the baths, the gallery gained twice the exhibition space, a depository, and better facilities for employees and the public.

The Regional Gallery is the fifth largest in the country in terms of the size of its collections. It has more than 2,000 paintings, over 16,000 graphics and drawings, and about 3,000 sculptures and other objects. According to regional councilor Kveta Vinklátová (Mayors for the Liberec Region), the relocation of the collections to the baths was a good choice. "The gallery now has an excellent reputation far beyond the borders of the region. People come to us from afar for exhibitions in an environment that is dignified for art. Moreover, the entire area on Masaryk Avenue has become a kind of cultural crossroads of the city, the significance of which, I hope, will continue to grow," she said.

Last year, over 41,500 visitors came to the Liberec gallery. According to director Jan Randáček, the change of ownership will not have any significant impact on its operation. "The change will be that while we used to pay for operating costs and regular maintenance, now we will also be responsible for repairs that the city, as the owner, previously covered," Randáček told ČTK today. For this year, the gallery has already received money from the region, in addition to a grant for acquiring new artworks, also for repairing the air conditioning, which the director stated has needed it after seven years of operation.