The Zlín Tomáš Baťa Memorial will participate in the European Heritage Days for the first time

Zlín - The Zlin Memorial of Tomáš Baťa will participate for the first time this year in the international European Heritage Days. On Saturday, September 7th, it will offer visitors free access to guided tours. This was announced today by the head of the memorial, Magdaléna Hladká.

"It is symbolic that the theme of this year's European Heritage Days is 'Heritage Connects the World', because the Tomáš Baťa Memorial truly attracts visitors from all over the world. Just in the current season, architecture admirers from Mexico, Australia, Canada, Laos, Korea, and India have visited. I believe that by involving the memorial, we will motivate visitors to explore other attractions in the city of Zlín," said the deputy mayor of Zlín, Martina Hladíková (ODS).

On Saturday, eight guided tours will take place at the memorial. "Before the tour, due to limited capacity, it is always necessary to first pick up a free ticket at the memorial's Info Point. Interested parties who want to take advantage of the free access to the memorial can also reserve their spots in advance on the website www.pamatnikbata.eu," Hladká stated.

The Tomáš Baťa Memorial has been open to the public since its reopening after renovation for the fifth year. "In both last year and the year before, the number of visitors to the memorial exceeded 12,000. We expect similar numbers at the end of this year, as from January to the end of August, 7,967 people have visited the space, which corresponds to the results of the previous two years," Hladká said.

The memorial was built in honor of Tomáš Baťa, the founder of the shoe empire, who died in a plane crash in 1932. The memorial was completed a year later. The building, which is one of the peaks of Zlín's functionalist architecture, was later used by the philharmonic and the regional gallery. The city then decided to return the building to its original form and purpose. The public first viewed the memorial after its renovation in 2018. A year later, a model of the Junkers F 13 aircraft, in which Baťa died in the plane crash in Otrokovice, was added to it.