Kino Scala, Movie theater in Brno, Czech Republic.
Kino Scala is a single-screen cinema in the basement of the DOPZ Palace at Moravské náměstí 127/3 in Brno. The palace was built in 1927–1928; the cinema opened on 28 December 1929 with the American sound film White Shadows in the South Seas. Since 2023 the main hall has been closed for structural reasons, and a small cinema operates provisionally in the foyer.
The cinema opened on 28 December 1929 as Bio Dopz in the DOPZ Palace, built on Moravské náměstí in 1927–1928, with a screening of White Shadows in the South Seas. It was renamed Scala on 3 December 1935 and Moskva on 15 October 1948. The building burned out in April 1945, but the basement cinema survived; the palace was replaced in the early 1950s by a socialist-realist building by architect Lubor Lacina.
The cinema's names track Brno's 20th-century politics: it opened in 1929 as Bio Dopz, became Scala in 1935, was renamed Moskva on 15 October 1948 after Lažanského náměstí became Red Army Square, briefly reverted to Scala around 1968–69, then took the name Moskva again. Since autumn 2013 Masaryk University and the Aeropolis company have run it as the Czech Republic's first university cinema, also used for lectures and conferences.
The cinema is in central Brno and easy to reach on foot from the main square and nearby streets. Accessibility is limited, so it is worth checking in advance which entrance and seating options are available for visitors with mobility needs.
The cinema sits in the basement of the DOPZ Palace, built on Moravské náměstí in 1927–1928 for the cooperative of commercial and industrial employees. When the building and its neighbours burned out in April 1945, the underground cinema hall survived undamaged, and screenings resumed on 9 May 1945 after repairs to the entrance.
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