Kulturní a společenské středisko Střelnice Gallery

In the historic conservation area of Český Těšín, in the Karviná district, stands a building whose history continues a shooting tradition dating back to the late 18th century. The Shooting Society (Schützengesellschaft) in Těšín was founded in 1795, and its patron was Duke Albert Casimir of Saxe-Teschen. Only in 1881 did the society buy a plot of land for 36,000 florins, and a year later, in 1882, it had the Střelnice (shooting range) building erected to a design by Theodor Heřmanský. The first part of the construction was carried out by the builder Gustav Raimann, while the building for the marksmen itself was built by Fritz Fulda. Behind it, shooting stands with targets and bullet traps were set up, also to a design by Heřmanský.

In 1890 a restaurant extension was added and the street facade was remodelled to a design by Ludvík Kametz, whose firm also carried out the work. In the same year Emperor Franz Joseph I took part in a shooting competition here. In 1919 the shooting range was moved elsewhere for safety reasons. From 1920 the building was used by the customs office and the town council until a new town hall and customs house were built in Český Těšín. In 1949 the inn was closed and the building was taken over by the House of Children and Youth; in 1950 workshops and playrooms were added. A general renovation took place between 1967 and 1969, during which unsuitable alterations were made. In 1976 a memorial plaque by Gustav Nowak was unveiled; it was later stolen. In 2000 a new architectural-historical survey was carried out and the building was renovated. When the area in front of the building was redesigned in 2017, a 19th-century stone well was uncovered and incorporated into the grounds.

The building is a plastered brick structure on a rectangular T-shaped plan. The central part of the facade is formed by a two-storey projecting bay three window axes wide, covered with a metal roof with an ogee profile and an aedicule dormer with a round oculus. The side wings have one upper floor with four window axes each and half-hipped roofs. The garden wing is single-storey with a hipped roof, flanked on both sides by annexes with metal lean-to roofs. The street facade is articulated by banded rustication, the windows have semicircular heads and are decorated with rustication, and the cornice of the projecting bay rests on brackets.

The interior was rebuilt for the needs of the House of Children and Youth: metal door frames were fitted, a marble mosaic was laid in the corridor and simple wooden banisters were installed. Of the original furnishings, the double-leaf wooden panelled doors to the main hall have survived; the walls of the hall are decorated with stucco blind arcades, paired pilasters and a profiled cornice with dentils below the ceiling. The original shooting room was converted into a theatre hall with a cove vault. The cellars have segmental vaults.

Střelnice is still a lively place today. It hosts cultural and social events, festivals and a variety of hobby clubs. Adding to its historical interest, in the 1960s the bands The Spies and Ibis rehearsed here; the name Ibis was actually an abbreviation of the Czech for “imitation of beat groups”. The building, which once welcomed an emperor and continues a shooting tradition going back to 1795, offers visitors a cross-section of the history of the Těšín region in a single building.