A Socialist Realist building from 1951-1958 in Dąbrowa Górnicza with a theatre hall, an art-house cinema and a gallery, entered in the heritage register.
The Basin Palace of Culture (Pałac Kultury Zagłębia) on Wolności Square in Dąbrowa Górnicza is a building from 1951-1958, a monumental example of Socialist Realism, entered in the heritage register. Today it houses a theatre hall, the KADR art-house cinema, an art gallery and educational studios.
The idea of a culture centre arose in 1945. The initiator was the Silesian-Dąbrowa voivode Aleksander Zawadzki. In 1949 a Culture Centre Building Committee was appointed. The design of the building and its interiors was prepared by Zbigniew Rzepecki, and construction began in May 1951.
The official opening of the Basin Culture Centre took place on 11 January 1958. In 1964 the institution changed its name to the Basin Palace of Culture, and in 1992 to the Dąbrowa Palace of Culture. Residents called it the palace from the start.
It is a three-storey, symmetrical building on a high basement, with a façade of red brick and sandstone, with a central tower decorated with attics and a crown-shaped roof storey. The interiors are decorated with marble, hand-painted majolica tiles, wooden panelling and large mirrors. Of the 10,600 m² of usable area, 1,900 m² is taken up by halls.
The theatre hall has 588 seats (464 on the ground floor and 124 on the balcony), a revolving stage 11 m in diameter and a three-level mechanically raised orchestra pit. The building also contains, among other things, the Theatre Cellar, the Michał Spisak Chamber Hall with a piano, a cinema hall, a dance and ballet hall, an art gallery, a café and a wedding hall.
The Fine Arts Gallery was opened on 15 September 1972. The KADR cinema has operated since 2007 and is regarded as the only cinema of an educational, non-commercial character in the town. The restored theatre hall was put into use on 24 February 2006.
In 2011-2014 the building underwent a general renovation, and it reopened on 11 October 2014. The institution runs art education sections, an art studio and a University of the Third Age, and recurring events include the International Brass Band Festival and the international Michał Spisak music competition.
The palace was entered in the heritage register on 22 November 1979 as the first building of its kind in Poland, under number A/1240/79. In 2020 the entry was transferred to the register of the Silesian Voivodeship under number A/690/2020.
About 400 m away stands the Basilica of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Angels, about 900 m further on the “Sztygarka” City Museum, and in Będzin, about 4 km from here, Będzin Castle.
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