Č. Budějovice wants to renovate the Slavie cultural house for 400 million CZK

photo: Aktron, Wikimedia Commons

České Budějovice - České Budějovice wants to repair and revitalize the cultural house Slavie for approximately 400 million crowns. The work could start in 2022. Part of the money could be obtained by the city from EU funds. This was stated today by the Deputy Mayor Juraj Thoma (HOPB).

The city will seek the winning proposal through a competitive dialogue. The competition will be administered by the Prague architectural studio CCEA Moba. The city has been collaborating with it since 2017 on preparing the competition, from which a new design for the revolving auditorium in Český Krumlov is expected to emerge. The city will select five applicants and then choose the winner from them. Slavie is intended to function again as a community house, and the reconstruction will also include a summer stage and a waterfront access to the river.

"In the coming months, there will be intensive negotiations with various architectural teams. Their task will be to describe the social and economic sustainability for several coming years. We are not looking for someone who just draws blue or green shutters, but also for someone who comes up with a functional concept of what that building should be," Thoma said.

Designing should take place in 2020, with construction expected in 2022 to 2023. The costs for the competition will be five million. According to Thoma, the final investment should not exceed 400 million. The city could obtain part of the funding from the EU; the council sent a strategic project to the Ministry for Regional Development, which includes the repair of Slavie, the creation of a new theater revolving stage, and a new building for the South Bohemian Theater. The city could receive up to 55 percent of the funds from the EU.

A music club operates on the ground floor of the cultural house Slavie, with a contract valid until the end of this June. The building's dominant feature is a large hall on the first floor, which is currently minimally utilized.

Originally a German community house, it was built between 1871 and 1872. It was designed as a cultural, social, and political center for the German population of České Budějovice. Under Hitler, it became a center of German Nazi nationalism, later housing the regional secretariat of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, before being handed over to the city, and later serving the army. In 1962, the state returned it to the city again.