Dr. Edvard Beneš Gymnasium

The current building of the Higher Vocational School of Education and Social Sciences, the Secondary Vocational School of Education, and the European Gymnasium was once among the largest in Czechoslovakia. The aim of architect Linhart’s design was to create a building that would provide the most pleasant environment for learning. The five-story gymnasium has a reinforced concrete skeleton, an L-shaped floor plan, and strip windows that allow sunlight into the well-ventilated interiors. The large windows on the southern side of the building belong to the classrooms, while the smaller ones facing European Street belong to the hallway with lockers. The interior is notable for its rhythmic layout and the visually expressed structural system of the building. The solution of details such as the railing termination, the canopy above the main entrance, or the central staircase is also remarkable.