The reconstruction of the funeral hall at the Brno cemetery will start in May

Brno – The ceremonial hall at the central cemetery in Brno on Vídeňská street will be undergoing reconstruction by workers starting in early May. This will be the first major repair intervention since its inception, which will mark 96 years this year. The city will spend 75 million crowns to relocate heating from the ceiling to the floor, and the catafalque will resemble the original one again, Deputy Mayor Petr Hladík said at a press conference today. The work is expected to be completed in 11 months.

However, ceremonies will not be held in the hall only until September; from October onward, work will continue during operations. From May to September, only the ceremonial hall of the crematorium on Jihlavská street will be used. "The problem is the structure's stability. There are leaks in the roof, and the heating is inadequate. We will refurbish the lighting, and the catafalque will function again so that the coffin can roll in after the ceremony," Hladík said.

The ceremonial hall, which has 40 seats and a total capacity of about 100 people, is the work of the significant architect Bohuslav Fuchs. It is a protected monument and was the first ceremonial building in the cemetery, which was established based on the Viennese model in 1883. A few years after the construction of the ceremonial hall, a crematorium was built, designed by another notable First Republic architect, Ernst Wiesner. The Brno cemetery is one of the largest in the Czech Republic, covering an area of 28 hectares.