The Building of Matice Opavská

The building of the former Matice opavská is situated in Rybí Market and Matiční Street, which was named after the foundation. The house, which originally beloned to Ludwig Wöllersdorf, was bought by Matice in 1880. The foundation played an important role in lives of the Czech inhabitants of Opava.

The history of the foundation started in 1877 when the teacher and historian Vincenc Prasek, Catholic priest Antonín Gruda, journalist Jan Zacpal, doctor Jan Kolofík, and other Czech patriots founded Matice opavská as a coordination headquarters of local national endeavours. Members and supporters of Matice were outstanding politicians  F. L. Rieger, Eduard Grégr, T. G. Masaryk or Josef Kaizl, writer Jan Neruda, painter and author of the foundation logo Mikoláš Aleš, naturalist Ladislav Josef Čelakovský (son of writer František Ladislav Čelakovský), geographer Jan Palacký (son of František Palacký), ethnographer Čeněk Zíbrt and others. One of the first successful endeavours of Matice opavská, supported by Ústřední matice školská in Prague, was the foundadion of a private Czech grammar school in 1883 with Vincenc Prasek as the first headmaster. In 1883 the foundation published the first issue of a bulletin named Věstník Matice opavské. This originally educational magazine turned scientific during the interwar period. In 1948 the tradition was taken over by Slezský sborník. At the end of the 19th century the foundation established Matice opavská Museum. The foundation also ran its own printing company Slezská Grafie.

The foundation was temporarily dissolved during the World War II, then briefly reinstated to be dissolved again after February 1948. The property of the foundation was transferred to the Silesian Research Institute. In 1968 the foundation was reinstated again, it merged with Silesian Enlightenment Matice and changed its name to Matice slezská (Silesian Matice). In 1972 the foundation was forcibly dissolved for the third time. In December 1989 it was reinstated again and had its house returned as well. Today Matice slezská is fulfilling its mission to preserve cultural, historical and economic values, it publishes a periodical Vlastivědné listy Slezska a severní Moravy and runs its own publishing house.

In the course of its existence Matice opavská organized numerous social and cultural events for the Czech inhabitants of Opava. The building became not only the seat of the foundation, but it housed its museum and library, and it provided shelter for other 21 Czech clubs in town, such as Craftsman Club, Sokol, Amateur Theatre Association, Beseda, or Křížkovský’s Singing Society. On the ground floor of the building there was a pub, which hosted the first Czech theatre performances in Opava.

The seat of Matice was at first only the corner house in Rybí Market built before 1841. In 1894 the foundation bought the next door building and four years later a two-wing building was built under the supervision of Josef Hruschka. The remaining two buildings, which form the premises of Matice, were built by Eduard Labitzký in 1869, but they were added to the complex after World War II. In the years 1948–1989 when the house was nationalized, it served as a school canteen and after school club, an art school, a branch of the Czechoslovak Radio in Ostrava, and an archive of Building Construction Company. After 1989 the building was returned to the reinstated foundation, but today it still houses a school canteen, solicitor’s office, and in the vaulted cellar there is a restaurant. When the building was returned to Matice, it was in serious disrepair. The complex underwent an extensive reconstruction and was reopened in 1995. In 2009–2009 the facade of the building was restored to its original state.