Zlín's Velké kino will be statically secured, the city is selling seats

Zlín - The structure of the Zlín Grand Cinema, which has been closed for a year, will be temporarily secured by 18 steel truss towers. The structure will be supported from the interior. The city is selling seats from the cinema because of this. The static assurance is based on the assumption that the hall is empty without seats, a projection screen, and the ceiling has also been removed, Zlín’s mayor's assistant Jiří Korec (ANO) informed ČTK today.

The Grand Cinema was built in 1932 by the Baťa company according to a design attributed to architect František L. Gahura. The original capacity of the auditorium reached up to 2270 seats, which has gradually been reduced to the current 1010 seats, making it the largest cinema hall with year-round operation in the Czech Republic.

However, the load-bearing structure is in a critical condition, and the city has erected a fence around the cinema for safety reasons. The municipality plans to repair the interior of the building in the future so that the exterior appearance is not altered. However, there are no plans for the cinema's renovation in the near future, as costs are estimated to reach tens of millions of crowns.

The city is now offering 1025 seats and 17 double seats from the cinema, which were purchased in 2004. "They are still very well-preserved and can be useful in other auditoriums. However, it is worthwhile for the city to sell them because the cost of storing them during the renovation of the Grand Cinema would likely exceed the costs of acquiring new seats," said the mayor's assistant Patrik Kamas (ANO). The price has not been set, and the city is trying to sell the seats for the second time; there was no response to the first call earlier this year.

Last year, however, the city managed to sell chairs from the former House of Arts, which housed the Zlín Philharmonic. "A total of 580 pieces were purchased last year by the city of Bzenec for 118,900 crowns," said the spokesperson of the Zlín city hall, Zdeněk Dvořák.