Č. Budějovice has started the reconstruction of the Slavie cultural center for 500 million CZK

Ceske Budejovice – Ceske Budejovice today began the reconstruction of the cultural house Slavie, with costs for the reconstruction around 500 million crowns excluding tax. This is one of the largest investments in the city’s modern history. The reconstruction is expected to finish in two years. This was stated by representatives of the Ceske Budejovice leadership to journalists.

"We had a lot of work around the project. And I don’t know now if we have more of that work behind us or ahead of us. This morning we handed over the construction site, and the actual work can start on Wednesday," said Petr Maroš, deputy mayor of Ceske Budejovice.

The city received a grant of 177 million crowns from the National Recovery Plan for the reconstruction. A condition for successful funding is that the construction must be approved by September 2025.

The planned reconstruction of the cultural house has recently been accompanied by protests from some groups in the city who want to preserve the current form of the building, which is a cultural monument. According to them, the reconstruction will partially change the layout of the building. The cultural house will be complemented by a glass extension, and the social hall on the first floor as well as the gymnasium on the ground floor will be removed.

According to Maroš, only a court can stop the project. "We can only cancel it based on economic disadvantage, but it does not meet these criteria. We inherited the reconstruction of Slavie from the previous city leadership, and the process is so far along that we simply cannot stop it. The debate among architects and other experts should have taken place when the project was being prepared," Maroš told ČTK. In the tender for the reconstruction of Slavie, a consortium of companies Metrostav, Geosan, and Auboeck was successful.

The fate of KD Slavie has been discussed in Ceske Budejovice for several years. Originally a German People's House, it was built between 1871 and 1872. It was designed as a cultural, social, and political center for the German-speaking population of Ceske Budejovice. Under Adolf Hitler, it became a center for German Nazi nationalism, later housing the regional secretariat of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, and then it was handed over to the city, later serving the army. In 1960, the Ministry of Defense transferred it to the state, and two years later, it was returned to the city.