Polský dům House

After the economic crisis in the 1970s, the Ostrava-Karvinskaya pelvis transformed into a dynamic industrial centre. Modern mining and metallurgy attracted thousands of workers, especially from Western Halich. The number of these immigrants in the political district of Moravia Ostrava (established in 1900) has gradually exceeded ten thousand. In this way, there was a need for education and social care institutions, such as the People's School branch in Krakow, which was engaged in the education of a backward immigrant population.

The initiator of the construction was Ostrava activist Wacław Seidl. In 1899 he started a collection of funds to build a Polish educational centre and meeting place for the Polish community. The money for the construction was contributed by Count Zamojski, Count Tarnowski and many other donors from Krakow, Ostrava, Malopolska and Těšín Silesia. The building manager Stanisław Bandrowski, who lived in Ostrava at the time, was entrusted with building supervision. An interesting part of the construction was the building material - stones from demolished Krakow walls were used as the building, which remain visible to this day in the exterior decoration of the building.

The architecture of the Polish House bears distinctive features of Art Nouveau style. The construction is decorated with elements reminiscent of Polish heritage: a tower in the shape of a Piasto crown with a pair of eagles, the characters of Poland and Lithuania, and also a statue of Saint Hedvika. The building is located at the intersection of the streets of Žerotín and Poděbradov.

The opening ceremony took place on 8th and 9th September 1900. The celebration had a religious element - the Mass was held in St. Wenceslas's church, then the parade moved to a newly built house. Mayor of Moravian Ostrava Adalbert Johanny took part in the opening. Shortly after the opening, the house got into financial difficulties that threatened to close it. Their solution was to commercialize the building. Polský dům gradually became not only an educational centre but also a cultural heart of the community. There was no Polish library, reading room, savings bank, Siła association and many other organizations. The premises also hosts the theatre group L. Czytogórsky and Italian singer Luigi Cavanna.

During the 20th century the house had undergone considerable changes. In 1938 he was renamed the Federal House. During World War II, there was a German organization called Hitler Youth. After the war, the Ostrava Poles managed to recover the decaying building. Since 1950 it worked as a People's Team Polský dům, where they had their headquarters Polish organization and restaurant with several buffets. The hotel part was added to the building in the 1960s. In 1979, Polský dům was incorporated into the Future Association and lost its independence. The management decided to turn the premises into a working-class cultural center with a dance hall. In 1985, the reconstruction of the building began, but it was never completed.

After the privatisation of 1991, Polský dům had long faced financial problems. Although it was owned, among other things, by Polish minority organisations (the Ostrava community contains about a thousand people), and sometimes cultural events like Polish-Czech days were organised there, it gradually disintegrated. Today, the building is long-term unused and in poor construction condition. Despite all the difficulties, it has managed to obtain cultural heritage status for the building, which protects this unique testimony about the history of the Polish community in Ostrava.