The Bata Region

Labour Square

The growing red brick factory in Zlín required not only an increase in the number of workers and their accommodation in Bata houses on the city slopes, but also public amenities. Youth dormitories, schools, the new cinema and the administrative building No 21 shifted the city life east of the centre, to the gate of the factory area, where thousands of people passed daily. The square named after the most important Bata value soon became the centre of modern Zlín.

František Lýdie Gahura, Josef Gočár, Bohuslav Fuchs, Emanuel Hruška and Vladimír Karfík all contributed to its urban design. Although many of their ideas were not implemented, the result was a public space where every metre was thought out and used. Directly opposite the factory gate is the functionalist Department Store, which is diagonally connected to the smaller Market Hall. The free space for leisure and public gatherings is closed by the Big Cinema and above it stands the Social House, nowadays the Interhotel Zlín.

Today, the Labour Square (náměstí Práce) is separated from the factory by the main road, under which runs a pedestrian underpass built in the 1980s. Although there is no more need for gatherings during company celebrations, the Labour Square is still a lively transport, social and shopping artery of the city.

At first glance, the Market Hall on your left, as you exit the pedestrian underpass, is a rather discreet building. Yet, it is one of the top examples of how easily adaptable the Zlín skeleton system of factory buildings is. It used to be a shoe and service shop, later it was a cinema, a theatre and a large canteen. Today, it is divided into smaller cubicles with shops and restaurants with separate entrances on the ground floor, and a large dining room on the first floor. Don't be alarmed by the visual smog and step inside.