The representatives of Brno approved a memorandum on the construction of a concert hall

Brno - The representatives of Brno today approved a proposal for a memorandum between the city, the government, and the South Moravian Region regarding the construction of the Janáček Cultural Center. The concert hall, costing 1.3 billion crowns, is to be completed by 2020 and will offer an audience of 1,250 seats. The memorandum includes a financial contribution from the city amounting to 562 million crowns, the government will contribute 600 million, and the South Moravian Region has promised 100 million. The form of the memorandum will also be approved by the regional council on Thursday and by the government in early October.

The proposal was supported by 47 out of a total of 65 councilors. "We have been discussing the memorandum for a longer time with the Ministry of Culture and the South Moravian Region, and we have managed to find agreement on financing. I think this is a fundamental step to ensure that we are capable of financing the project," said the Mayor of Brno, Petr Vokřál (ANO).

According to Vokřál, it is possible that costs may be reduced due to a public competition. He stated that construction could begin in 2018, with completion expected in 2020.

The Janáček Cultural Center will house the Brno Philharmonic, which currently lacks appropriate facilities for rehearsals and performances. There has been talk of a concert hall in Brno for a long time, but there has never been enough money for it. The initial phase of construction includes the garages being developed at the corner of Besední and Veselá streets, which will be underground beneath the center. "The approval of the memorandum is a significant step. In the past, it was not signed by the government and now it looks like all three parties will sign it for the first time, which is crucial," said the director of the Brno Philharmonic, Marie Kučerová, to reporters. She remarked that Brno should not have problems filling the hall with a capacity of 1,250 seats. "The capacity was based on consultations with us. Similar halls in comparable cities, even smaller ones, are sold out comfortably," said Kučerová. She added that the first pieces to be performed in the new hall should be some of Janáček's organ compositions.

The planned Brno concert hall will be the first of its kind in the country in several decades. Since November 1989, only a few projects of similar scale have been established, none of which were primarily intended for music. For example, a new theater opened in Plzeň in September two years ago, a building with a distinctive façade costing around a billion crowns. In September 2009, a new headquarters for the National Technical Library was opened in Prague's Dejvice, a building praised by architectural experts that cost 2.25 billion crowns.

In addition to the Janáček Cultural Center in Brno, there has also been talk for a long time about a new hall that is to be built in České Budějovice. The building, nicknamed according to its shape "Ray," was designed by architect Jan Kaplický and is to be located in the area of the former barracks in the Čtyři Dvory district. Although the project, with an estimated cost of two billion crowns, received a zoning decision in 2013, construction is still a long way off, as no investor willing to finance the project has been found yet.

Another project by Kaplický for the Prague National Library ended in the proposal stage. The building design called "Octopus," which won a competition in March 2007, sparked unprecedented passions and the case became a political issue. The construction of the library, which was projected to cost four billion, was complicated by a land dispute, and the antimonopoly office also intervened in the matter. Kaplický was disillusioned with the case, and his sudden death in January 2009 marked a tragic epilogue.