Košice to build an open cultural centre

As part of the 2013 European Capital of Culture project, a new cultural hub is to open in Košice: seven cultural institutions will be extended, modified, and interconnected, thus creating open zones without admission fees for the public. The goal is to lure visitors and offer them an open space to use, the Košice daily Korzár wrote.

(Source: TASR)

As part of the 2013 European Capital of Culture project, a new cultural hub is to open in Košice: seven cultural institutions will be extended, modified, and interconnected, thus creating open zones without admission fees for the public. The goal is to lure visitors and offer them an open space to use, the Košice daily Korzár wrote.

Irretrievable grants for all seven projects equal €9,644,531 in total, of which 85 percent will come from the European Fund of Regional Development, 10 percent from the Slovak state budget, and 5 percent from the owners of the institutions’ own resources.

The institutions involved are Eastern Slovak Gallery, Puppet Theatre (the atrium), Barkóczy Palace (the courtyard), Public Library of Ján Bocatio, Thália Hungarian Theatre, and Crafts Lane.

The last project will conjoin the current site of Crafts Lane, Hrnčiarska Street, with Katova bašta / Executioner’s Bastion through a craftsman’s courtyard. As part of the project, casemates (underground corridors and cellars used as arms depots and barracks for soldiers) will be reconstructed, the archaeological presentation of the original city fortification and the water moat will be established, a route for guided tours will be created, a gallery of crafts and a courtyard of crafts will emerge, and a watchtower will be built.

The Košický korzár section of the Sme daily wrote that in the end the whole complex will expand by at least one third, and thus will become one of the biggest enclosed spaces for culture in downtown Košice. “In the Executioner’s Bastion, an exposition of the defence system of medieval Košice will be built, which will show the way of the fortification, preserved shooting positions and also how the housing was here by that time,” Robert Pollák, head of Eastern Slovak Gallery, said.

“We will present the casemates to the public for the first time, as they have never been available so far. For example, we want to show the recently discovered pavement of boulders dating back to the break of the 16th and 17th centuries,” he added. Pollák concluded that the “renewed” complex will be a space for culture that has no parallel far and wide. One of the architects who worked on the project, Martin Drahovský, added that the resulting work will be modern, made of glass, but also connected with history and presenting the original state of Košice’s medieval fortification. He added that the architects wanted to make the place available also for children.

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