The Regional Gallery in Zlín will present the creation of the local theater building

Zlín - The circumstances surrounding the creation of the Zlín theater will be presented in a new exhibition at the regional gallery of fine arts. Visitors will learn about the construction of the existing building, which was completed in 1967 as the Theater of Workers, as well as the original spaces that the theater artists used. Various architectural designs will also be on display. The exhibition is accessible from Tuesday and will last until the end of May, said Michaela Mitáčková, spokesperson for the Baťa Institute, where the gallery is located, today to ČTK.
    According to the exhibition curator Ladislava Horňáková, the first attempts to build a theater building can be documented from the 1930s. The first projects were likely developed by architect František Lýdie Gahura, who was also the author of several Baťa buildings, including the typical brick houses, the Memorial of Tomáš Baťa, and the Great Cinema.
    A permanent theater stage was established in Zlín in 1946 under the name Theater of Workers and operated in the spaces of today’s Small Stage. "However, this was a temporary solution, and in 1956, it was decided to build a new building and announce an architectural competition in 1957. The first prize was awarded to the project by architects Karel Řepa and Miroslav Řepa among the submitted competition designs. Miroslav Řepa invited his classmate František Rozhon for the realization," stated the curator.
    According to her, the winning competition design was generous by post-war standards. "The theater gave the place a metropolitan scale and became a significant cultural center," the curator noted. The building, classified as a cultural monument, is located in the city center, in close proximity to Míru Square.
    Visitors to the exhibition will be able to view designs by František Lýdie Gahura for the theater building during the interwar and wartime periods, as well as competition designs for the Theater of Workers by architects Jan Sokol, Jiří Čančík, and the projects of the winning team of architects. They will also see a number of previously unpublished photographs documenting the original state of the space for the construction of the theater, the progress of the construction, and the course and results of the art competition for the theater's artistic decoration.
    The exhibition will be complemented by guided tours of the theater, one of which will be attended by architect Miroslav Řepa.