The former school in Nový Bor is planned to be converted for a collection of glass from symposia

Nový Bor – The former school adjacent to the glass museum in Nový Bor in the Českolipsko region is planned to be transformed into an exhibition for the collection of glass from international symposia (IGS). Jaromír Dvořák, the mayor, told ČTK today. The collection consists of 1500 artworks from 500 authors created during symposia from 1982 to 2003, which was purchased last year by the Liberec Region for 20.6 million crowns and lent to the city on the condition that the works will be exhibited.

The International Glass Symposium was associated until 2006 with the then glass giant Crystalex, which invited glass artists from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and other countries to its premises every three years. When the company went bankrupt in the autumn of 2008, the collection became part of the bankruptcy estate. It includes highly valuable works by well-known Czech artists such as René and Miluše Roubíček, Vladimír Kopecký, Jaroslav Róna, and Bořek Šípek. In 2011, the collection was acquired by the Josef Viewegh Foundation, while the then ČSSD-led Liberec Region had no interest in it.

The city wants to transform the former practical school, which neighbors the glass museum, into the new exhibition. According to Dvořák, both the school building, where the IGS collection will be permanently exhibited, and the building of the Nový Bor Glass Museum need reconstruction. "It won't be cheap; we will have to phase it, and in any case, the city would have to borrow for this project during implementation,” added Dvořák. He did not want to estimate the costs of the project yet, as it is still being prepared.

According to Dvořák, the school building is already empty; children from the original practical school will start attending the primary school in the Arnultovice area from September. Classes for children with special needs will be established there, as their number is increasing in the city, and the school in the square has already become insufficient in terms of capacity. Additionally, the local school did not meet the conditions of the amendment to the Education Act, which requires municipalities establishing primary schools to ensure that the number of students reaches 180 at least once in the last three years. Only schools providing education to students with a higher level of support are exempt.

The primary school in Arnultovice did not meet the conditions of the law amendment; there were barely 60 students in five classes, and the town hall regularly granted it an exception regarding the number of students in classes. However, this is no longer possible, so the city has moved the children elsewhere. Students from the original Arnultovice classes will start on September 1 at the primary schools U Lesa and in the square Míru. "We allowed those students to move as a whole, like the second and fifth grades, to the school U Lesa, sometimes even with their equipment and in some cases even with their teacher," added Dvořák.