A fence will be constructed around the Grand Cinema in Zlín, the city will renovate it from the inside

Zlín - A fence will be erected around the Grand Cinema in the center of Zlín by the end of the year. The reason is safety, as the building's structural integrity is compromised. The municipal office closed the cinema in March this year and then decided to renovate the heritage-listed structure built during the Bata era. It is not yet certain when the costly reconstruction will begin. However, it has already been decided that the cinema will be repaired from the inside, said Zdeněk Dvořák, the spokesperson for the municipal office, today. With 1010 seats, it is the largest cinema hall with year-round operation in the country.

"Regarding the fencing of the Grand Cinema, a tender is being prepared for the company that will carry it out," Dvořák stated. It can be expected that the fence around the cinema will be built later this year.

It is still uncertain how much the cinema repair will cost, but it will be an expensive matter. Therefore, the city leadership already began preparing a reserve for the renovation of both the cinema and the damaged building on Míru Square in the spring, initially allocating 60 million crowns from its budget. Additional funds are expected to be added in the coming years.

The heritage-listed Grand Cinema was built in 1932 by the Bata company according to the design of architect František L. Gahura. The original auditorium capacity was 2270 seats, which has been gradually reduced. Currently, the supporting walls and roof of the cinema are in a state of emergency. Due to the cinema's closure, the international festival of children's and youth films, which had been hosted there since 1961, did not take place this year. The festival traditionally began in the cinema.