Karlovy Vary have a study of the construction of a hall into the Imperial Baths

Karlovy Vary - Karlovy Vary have completed a study for the construction of a multipurpose hall within the building of the Imperial Baths. The main condition was that the hall should not interfere with the heritage elements of the peripheral walls with bathrooms. However, the capacity will be smaller than what the symphonic musicians desired, as the new hall will provide them with facilities, said the Mayor of Karlovy Vary, Andrea Pfeffer Ferklová (ANO), to reporters today.

"We were presented with a verification study, which indicated that it is possible to accommodate about 300 to 380 people in this space. The original request from the Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra was nearly double that, at 600 people. But the verification study showed that without interfering with the building itself, we are able to implement such a hall," said the mayor.

The city also preferred a solution that would offer various uses of the hall, for concerts of symphonic and other music, theater, cinema, but also for conferences. Both the stage and the auditorium will be height-adjustable, as will the area above the stage, which will be able to adapt to the required acoustics. The study also considers the creation of facilities for the support and rehearsal rooms of the Karlovy Vary symphonic musicians.

The city is now handing the study over to the Karlovy Vary Region, which owns the building and wants to start the reconstruction of the national cultural monument later this year. This is expected to cost over 480 million crowns, with the city also contributing. The Governor of the Karlovy Vary Region, Jana Mračková Vildumetzová (ANO), told ČTK that the region has already received written confirmation of the granting of a subsidy from the Ministry of Culture amounting to 250 million crowns.

For the construction of the concert hall, the city of Karlovy Vary has allocated 150 million crowns. According to the mayor, the proposed form of the multipurpose hall is expected to cost less, around 90 to 100 million crowns. By not interfering with the original structure of the Imperial Baths and being located in its atrium, the preparations for its construction will not delay the region's planned reconstruction of the entire monument.