A new high school building has opened in Olomouc, costing 208 million

Studio - R, Miroslav Pospíšil, extension of the Slavic Gymnasium, Olomouc

Olomouc - A new building of the Slavic Gymnasium officially opened today in Olomouc. The new construction complements the historic part of the gymnasium and replaced an inadequate annex from the 1970s. The investor of the construction, which had total costs of 208.5 million crowns and started last February, was the Olomouc Region. The new facilities benefit both students and teachers. The gymnasium has also gained an unconventional sports field located on the roof of the building.    The new building replaced a previous inadequate prefabricated structure that had to be demolished. The end of classes in these premises was also mandated by hygiene inspectors. "The new building has certainly made things easier for us. We have specialized classrooms, a new dining hall, and a new gymnasium that cannot be compared to what we had. There will also be no lack of computer equipment, and we have a very modern chemistry lab," said the acting principal of the gymnasium, Romana Lachnitová, to ČTK.
    In the basement of the new four-story building, there are changing rooms. The first floor has a new central entrance to the school and a dining hall with a capacity of 370 seats and the ability to serve 1,500 meals daily. The dining hall also serves two nearby high schools. On the second floor, there are modern classrooms, laboratories, and offices, along with access to the new gymnasium. The third floor contains additional classrooms and laboratories, and on the fourth floor, besides classrooms and offices, there is access to the outdoor sports area located on the roof of the gymnasium.
    The construction involved alterations to the historic building of the gymnasium. "The existing building was interconnected with the new structure on all floors, which prompted a number of construction modifications to the adjoining spaces. Corridors had to be built on all floors, new brick partitions were constructed, flooring was modified, new restroom facilities for teachers were installed on all floors, and new changing rooms were created in the space of the former dining hall on the first above-ground floor," Ivo Heger from the regional office told ČTK.
    The Slavic Gymnasium in Olomouc is the oldest gymnasium in Central and Northern Moravia. The gymnasium was founded in 1867. The first graduation ceremony in 1872 was even attended by Emperor Franz Joseph I; at that time, however, the school was functioning in provisional premises. Later, it was located in a building on the nearby Kosinova Street, and the construction of the current building began in 1913. Currently, nearly 1,000 students study here.