The Municipal Cultural Center in Veľký Krtíš is an exceptional architectural work, which, however, was not reflected by the professional public at the time of its creation. According to preserved documentation, the author of the building is the famous Czech architect Karel Prager. This is also evidenced by the horizontal mass with a legible grid of the building structure, which distantly resembles the aesthetics of Prager's iconic work - the building of the Federal Assembly in Prague.
The cultural centre is located in the city centre surrounded by other public buildings. Its placement on the plot creates an important public space in front of the main facade, which is enhanced by a full-width entrance staircase with two levels of terraces. The symmetrical composition, the overall heaviness of the volume and the slight slope of the terrain contribute to the monumentality of the building. The material purity was reduced to two blocks stacked on top of each other. The lower one is represented by two stone-cladded floors with a uniform rhythm of window openings and exterior columns. The extruded plastered upper mass corresponds to the space above the auditorium and the stage of the hall in the core of the layout. This feature, complemented by a sculpture of three muses, communicates the cultural purpose of the object. Structurally, the building is a steel-concrete frame with a transverse module of 4.4 m. The layout follows the usual scheme of a spacious entrance area in front of the central theatre hall and a corridor circle, which provides access to the spaces of the theatre background such as dressing rooms and offices located around the perimeter. In the eastern part there is a restaurant with a separate entrance from the exterior. The second floor is primarily dedicated to library and club spaces. Technical facilities and necessary warehouses and archives are located underground.
In 2020, the building underwent renovation, when the original window and door elements were replaced with aluminium ones without changing their proportions. The architectural value, which lies mainly in the rigidity of the form and its elegant austerity, has been preserved to this day, and after the renovation of the theatre hall the building still serves its original function.
Bibliography:
ČERVENÁK, Jozef: Mestské kultúrne stredisko Veľký Krtíš. seminárna práca z predmetu Dejiny architektúry a urbanizmu IV, FADSTU 2022
MORAVČÍKOVÁ, Henrieta - SZALAY, Peter. Domy kultúry na Slovensku: Vzostup a pád jedného typologického druhu. In Osvěta, kultura, zábava: kultúrní domy v Československu,Michaela Janečková, Irena Lehkoživoá (eds.) 2024, VI PER: Praha, 601 s.
Gizela Vodnáková, Cestami okresu Veľký Krtíš, Osvetová práca XXII, 1972, č. 12, s. 22–23, tu s. 22.
