Evangelická škola School building

Evangelická škola in Proseči near Skutče is a monument protected object located in Chrudim district and dates back to the early 19th century. This building testifies to the existence and activity of the local evangelical community in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Education activities in Proseči began in 1783 when the evangelical school was founded. The College of Members at the time had no funding and had to cover the costs of education without the aid of the State, the authorities or the municipality. Therefore, the teaching took place in the rented room of cottage No. 23. The first teachers included Tomáš Rejman ze Záboří, Jan Zajíc z Hořátve and Václav Rambousek z Chvaletic. Since 1791 František Svoboda taught from a family of teachers working in Proseči for over a century.

In 1816, the choir built a grafted cottage No. 7 near the rectory, which served as a school building. The architecture represents a single-storey structure adapted in the first half of the 19th century to a two-class object. The interior includes a black kitchen with a semicircular arch, brick floor and storage niche, a hall with a ceiling of beams and a fossil floor. The entrance wooden portal has a profiled upper-threshold ledge. The former skylight with beam ceiling and windows is located at the head of the building, while the original class has a pair of windows in front and two more from behind. Below the middle part is a stone cellar with a valb vault and a square well. The courtyard facade has calcareous facades with a roof overlap and carved end of the beams.

After the death of František Svoboda in 1833 his son Josef Svoboda continued teaching. In 1847, a second room was added to the building in the north. Then there were other sons, Eduard, Antonín and Bedřich. During Antonín Svoboda, in 1873 the school expanded to two-class, although 80 to 100 children were taught in one class. This situation led to a decision to build a new school or to abolish the existing school. The new building was built in Záborí in 1897, where it was taught until 1919.

Building No. 7 turned into a so-called old school used by the Evangelical Choir for various activities such as Sunday schools, confirmatory exercises and youth meetings. The northern part served as a residence for the tombs until the 1930s. The existence of the old school became problematic for the choir, which had several times considered taking it down. The building was preserved thanks to reconstruction in the mid-1990s, financed by subsidies from the District of Chrudim, the National Monument Institute and gifts of individuals and the Jeroným Corps.

Today, the building is owned by the city of Proseč and serves for cultural events such as Proseč parties or Museum subevenings. This historical object represents a rare 19th-century architecture that gives insight into the past of the local community and its educational process.