January 22, 2021 - A new multipurpose hall in Split will bear the name 'Ivo Tijardović' after the famous Split composer. 

Final preparations are underway for the technical inspection of the new multipurpose hall on Trg Hrvatske bratske zajednice, for which a permit should be issued at the end of February.

Recall that the reconstruction works worth HRK 5.6 million were carried out by the company Tekton gradnja d.o.o. according to the project solution of the company Super ured d.o.o., while the supervision was done by Meritum inženjering d.o.o. The Ministry of Culture set aside HRK 500,000 for the investment, and the City of Split provided other funds.

In 2002, the hall saw rough construction works. In February 2020, 18 years later, work began on bringing it to its purpose - a new cultural center in the city of Split. It will soon hold cinema screenings, theater performances, cultural - music events, conferences, and congresses. The auditorium has 155 seats and two seats for people with disabilities. It is also located where the cult Kino Split operated in the past. 

Slobodna Dalmacija reports that in the outer part of the hall, the courtyard, there is still some of the garden of the former Kino Split, as well as the hall where schoolchildren and high school students listened to their first classical music concerts at the then "Musical Youth", and where renowned musical names were B. Papandopulo, S. Bomabardeli, and V. Lesić.

In that hall and on that stage, Split HNK held performances after the theater building was destroyed in a fire in 1970 - until it was rebuilt in 1979. Kino Split was then one of four in the city, along with "Bačvice", "Tesla," and the Navy Club on the West Coast, which - as a cultural phenomenon - was written about in 1957 by a French journalist who moved to Split, Madeleine Epron Denegri.

She wrote for the Paris weekly "Cinematographie Francaise" about screenings in the garden under the clear summer sky, and that Split had such a cinema before Zagreb. Her article also revealed that the then-popular film "East of Eden" with James Dean was watched by 14,441 Split citizens there!

In addition to the hall's space, the reconstruction also includes ancillary rooms, dressing rooms, sanitary rooms, and other rooms for the needs of stage staff. The hall access is adapted for people with disabilities and people with reduced mobility by installing two ramps on the stairs. This hall will be managed by the cultural institution Hrvatski dom Split - concert hall, which also operates the newly renovated concert hall on Tončićeva Street.

This new stage will soon open its doors to citizens, following the improved epidemiological measures, and thus revive the city's cultural scene. When it is open to the public, it will bear the name of the great Split composer Ivo Tijardović.

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