Brno will welcome a new project dedicated to the history of the 20th century. In collaboration with TIC Brno and Post Bellum, Brno City Council will provide a new space for the Brno Institute of the Memory of the Nation, a place for modern history to come alive, where education and culture will take center stage. Photo credit: Brno Daily Staff.
Brno, Dec 2 (BD) – Radnická 10 will be the home of the new Brno Institute of the Memory of the Nation. The new space hopes to serve as an educational and cultural center dedicated to the history of the 20th century in an innovative way. The Brno City Council has approved the project, confirming a collaboration with TIC Brno and the Post Bellum institute. The city will contribute to the project by providing space at Radnická 10.
As they enter the building, visitors will find a permanent multimedia exhibition where the stories of war veterans, political prisoners and communist officials come alive. By providing a door into the past, the project intends to allow visitors to experience history without avoiding the darker aspects of the 20th century, which elapsed under the heavy shadow of totalitarian oppression and suffering.
The Institute’s ambitions go beyond maintaining a record of the past, aiming to shape the future: “Unfortunately, little time is spent on modern history at school. We can already see the results – many students have no idea what actually happened here under the previous regime, and they tend to downplay it, which leads to an underestimation of the pitfalls of totalitarianism. The Brno Institute of the Memory of the Nation will therefore offer a very useful and necessary educational service,” explained Marek Fišer, Brno Council Member for Culture.
As such, educational programs will be organized for primary school pupils and students, as well for the general public, and the space will also be used for social events, and screenings of films and documentaries.
A library, e-shop and café will brighten up the space. The Brno Institute of the Memory of the Nation is designed to be a place of memory and a new vibrant point of Brno’s cultural scene, as the Mayor Markéta Vaňková explained:
“Those who do not know their past are doomed to repeat it. No reasonable person wants the return of totalitarian regimes, which are creeping in power around the world and in some cases successfully disguising themselves as forces for good. That is why this institute will be established, to remind the young generation in particular of the horrors that took place in the Czech Republic. The exhibition will also expand the cultural range and increase the possibilities of tourism in Brno.”
