In Zlín, the Regional Library and Gallery of Fine Arts are being built

Zlín - Construction workers have begun work on the complete reconstruction of buildings 14 and 15 in the former factory complex of the Baťa company in Zlín. This was reported today by the spokesperson of the Zlín Region, Gabriela Sýkorová Dvorníková. The reconstruction of both buildings will result in the Regional Cultural and Educational Center. The project will cost 900 million crowns.
    "At this moment, the contractor companies have taken over the construction site. They are securing it and starting to carry out the first preparatory and demolition work," Dvorníková stated.
      The result of the transformation of the buildings will be a new modern cultural center for the Zlín Region, which will house the František Bartoš Regional Library, the Regional Gallery of Fine Arts, and the Museum of Southeast Moravia.
    "The entire complex, including the platform between the buildings, will be opened to the public in the second half of 2013," stated the statutory deputy governor Libor Lukáš. However, according to the plan, building 14 should be operational within a year, where new exhibitions from the Regional Gallery of Fine Arts and the Museum of Southeast Moravia will await visitors.
    The project will not only revive another part of the extensive factory complex but will also provide new headquarters for significant regional cultural institutions that currently reside in inadequate rented spaces. The preparation of the project lasted almost seven years.
      For the 900 million crown project, the Zlín Region will draw on European subsidies of 500 million crowns.
      The investment is comparable to the reconstruction of the Baťa Skyscraper in Zlín. This Zlín landmark was built during the interwar period by Jan Antonín Baťa as an administrative center for his company. The 78-meter-high building was the tallest building in then-Czechoslovakia. Its reconstruction required nearly 630 million crowns.