During the twentieth century, this comfortable space for training thoroughbred horses has been a barn, a storage space, and a workshop – only coming into use for cultural purposes in the 1970s. It was repaired with the goal of creating a standby location where festival programs in the castle courtyard could be transferred in case of inclement weather. However, neither the capacity nor primarily the acoustics were appropriate for this, so it has most often been used as an exhibition gallery. It gained its current look as part of the project “Renovating Castle Hill” in 2013. The architects Jan Šépka, Tomáš Hradečný, and Petr Hájek solved the acoustics with ingenious technical equipment that makes it possible to alter the building’s acoustic properties according to need.
They installed a sliding stage inside the building; changing its location also changes the seating capacity and can make the large auditorium into an intimate environment. Its main virtues are variability and multifunctionality, but the originality of its artistic concept follows next. A type of laminate using amber-colored resin poured over glass fibers is used for all of the equipment. Its translucency makes it ethereal, creates interesting lighting effects, and simultaneously makes the structures less dominant so that these create an outstanding backdrop for exhibitions and a variety of cultural events. Smetana’s Litomyšl has acquired an ideal space to hold nontraditional performances, chamber concerts, and a lecture hall for the popular pre-concert talks, in which various speakers give introductions to certain of the festival’s concerts.
The capacity for concerts is 480 seats plus room for 2 wheelchairs. The audience has no levels and is divided into three sections according to their distance from the podium. The seats are not numbered; therefore, we recommend choosing your seat as much in advance as possible.
