Třebíč has a new community center, created by converting a cinema

Třebíč - Clubrooms, offices, a music rehearsal studio, and starting in February, also a social café will operate in the new community center in Třebíč, which opened to the public for the first time today. It was created by renovating the former cinema Moravia at a cost of about 62 million crowns. It is expected to be fully operational in April, said Ondřej Ferdan, head of the Moravia community center.

The center’s operations are managed by the registered institute Střed, which provides social services in Třebíč and other towns in the region. The association Vrátka will also have space in the center. It plans to open a café with social rehabilitation for its clients. Interested individuals will learn how to prepare coffee, serve, take and process orders, and work with money in the new café. All of this will be supervised by job assistants, said Vladimíra Valová on behalf of the association.

In addition to Vrátka, according to Ferdan, the Hope Club will also operate in the center, and a hygiene facility for the homeless will be operational from April as well. "At this moment, it is furnished, but not yet equipped with a washing machine and other technical items. The social department of the city of Třebíč is in charge of it," Ferdan said.

The renovation, which began in the spring of 2018, cost 62 million crowns including VAT. About 17 million crowns were covered by the city thanks to a grant from the Integrated Regional Operational Programme.

The establishment of the community center helped save the Art Nouveau building from 1919. Its architect was the Třebíč builder Josef Herzán. Today, it is one of the few buildings that survived the extensive demolitions of the 1970s and 80s that significantly changed the appearance of Třebíč south of its historic center.

It was originally established as Bio Moravia, later carrying the names Stadion, Svět, and Sputnik. It was also adapted for theater performances and other cultural events. However, it also hosted an extraordinarily tragic performance, the political trial of Father Jan Bula. In 1951, he heard the verdict condemning him to death in the so-called Babice case behind its walls.

In 1992, Sputnik became cinema Moravia again, which screened films until 2006. It closed due to declining attendance and competition from the neighboring modern cinema Pasáž, which today is the only cinema hall in the thirty-six thousand Třebíč. The abandoned building was repeatedly offered for sale by the municipality. No buyer was found.

The organization Střed was established in 2000 to focus on working with at-risk families with children. Today, among other things, it operates its own helpline.