Dózsa Filmszínház in Dunaújváros / Hungary

 

On the backyard of this postcard, there is written "Üdvözlet Sztálinvárosból = Greetings from Stalin City".

Sztálinvárosból (Stalin City) was the name of the city Dunaújváros from 1951 till 1955. The construction of this new industrial city in Middle Hungary started in 1949 with building a big metal industry complex. Houses, roads, administrative buildings, schools, hospitals and cultural facilities were built for the approximately 28,000 new residents. There are several public statues and reliefs in the town, which represent the allegoric union of workers, peasants and intellectuals, surrounded by traditional folk motifs. Thanks to the inspiration of Bauhaus the buildings and monuments of this era (1949–56), like the forge, the cinema, the theatre, the hospital and the city's schools where characterized by a structural functionalism, but the ideological function resulted in classicist decorations, like columns, tympanums and arcades, because of which the informal name of the style became 'Stalin's Baroque'.

The country's most modern cinema palace at this time was opened on December 20, 1951 with the 1942 Soviet film Оборона Царицына / The Defense of Tsaritsyn. The Dózsa Cinema was designed by György Szrogh (1915-1999) and was declared a protected monument on April 13, 2004, and its surroundings were declared a protected monument area. 

The cinema named after György Dózsa (1470-1514). He was the leader of the 1514 peasant revolt and is still revered as a Hungarian national hero today. The cinema is called now Kultik Dunaújváros (at Dózsa György Place) and has two screens.

Two other cinemas opened in the city in 1951: the Szabadság Cinema in Dunapentel on February 21 and the Vasmű Open-Air Cinema on August 17. The Dózsa Cinema still welcomes its audiences today, in keeping with its original function and the technical requirements of the time.

Stubnitz-Lichtspiele in Sassnitz / Germany

 

Sassnitz is a town on Germany's largest island, Rügen.

The 1992 closed cinema Stubnitz-Lichtspiele is a listed building. I found this information on the website (very detailed and with many pictures) of Landesdenkmalpflege Mecklenburg-Vorpommern:

"In 1948, a fish combine founded in Sassnitz with 2000 employees and the location with a Baltic Sea port led to the young town developing into an important GDR industrial location. In this context, numerous apartments and schools were built. The planning for the construction of a representative cultural center was already made in 1955, initially a different location was planned for this. 

The rapid development of the former fishing village into a town finally led to the construction of the cultural center with an integrated cinema, restaurant and spa, which was completed in 1958. With its location next to the train station and in a prominent urban development position, the Stubnitz cinema quickly developed into the cultural center of the town. 

For the development of post-war architecture in the GDR, the cinema building in Sassnitz is an important architectural document of socialist realism with a very good original tradition and state of preservation of high testimony value. The building is impressive in terms of design, functionality and quality of workmanship and was built in a traditional 1950s style, comparable to the cinemas in Crivitz, Lübz, Plau am See, Malchow and Pasewalk. With its extensive original condition and its architectural quality, the cinema in Sassnitz is one of the most important surviving cinema buildings of the 1950s in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania."

The name Stubnitz for this cinema refers to the hilly forest landscape near Sassnitz. 

The postcard was published in 1962.

Cinéma in Taglio-Isolaccio / France

 

Taglio-Isolaccio is a French commune on the island of Corsica.

There is a "Centre de Vacances, de losirs et de repos" - "Holiday, leisure and rest center" with a cinema hall. Unfortunately, I was not able to find out more about this place.

Parkhof-Lichtspiele in Harksheide / Germany

 

Harksheide now belongs to the city of Norderstedt and borders Hamburg.

The cinema Parkhof-Lichtspiele opened in 1938. It were located in a building that had formerly been the historic customs station on the border between Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein, converted into a hotel at the end of the 19th century. The hall of this Parkhof-Hotel was remodeled into a cinema by Gustav Krausmann and Jan Cornils with 375 seats.

In 1958, the cinema was converted to Cinemascope so that films could be shown on a widescreen. In March 1970, the Parkhof-Lichtspiele closed, and in 1972 the entire complex was demolished.

The postcard was sent in 1942. On the backyard, there is written: "Parkhof Ochsenzoll. Tanz-Kaffee. Bes. Carl Hierlmeyer". You can see advertisement for the film Carl Peters. It is a 1941 German historical drama film directed by Herbert Selpin (1902-1942). It was produced as an anti-British propaganda film during the Second World War. Hans Albers (1891-1960) portrays German colonial leader Carl Peters (1856-1918), Bayume Mohamed Husen (1904-1944) plays his native guide.

Eden in Saint-Jean-d'Angely / France

 

An old postcard with a cultural building still in work.

And a good summary of the history on its homepage.

The Eden theatre-cinema was built in 1931 in just 76 days. This work designed by the architect André Guillon (1896-1992) presented at the 1935 Brussels World Fair, earned him a silver medal.  The hall could accommodate 1,100 people. The façade decorated with two bas-reliefs, one on the right "Ars" evoking the art and ballets of Joséphine Baker, the other on the left "Scientia" representing cinematographic science. The large entrance was framed by two high pilasters at the base of which were embedded the posters of the shows. Above the entrance, a large glass roof, in the shape of a butterfly wing, brought light to the interior bar. The entire interior, composed in the art deco spirit, columns of the bar and the entrance hall, capitals dressed in colored glass, was illuminated.

In 1984, the façade and the bar room were included in the supplementary inventory of Historic Monuments.

Since 2004 it has been closed due to dilapidation, the side facades and gables showed obvious cracks. A new small space, L'Éden Pasteur, replaced the old cinema from this time.

In May 2014, a fire destroyed the entire building, only two bas-reliefs were preserved.

Emblematic site for the people of Angers, the municipality wanted to breathe new life into this heritage echoing in the collective memory of the territory by recreating a performance hall, a facility serving a cultural policy facilitating access to culture for as many people as possible in the rural territory of Vals-de-Saintonge.

The New Eden performance hall opened its doors on 7 September 2018 with a modern hall (319 seats) for theater, galas, film screenings and various shows.

Tajikistan in Dushanbe / Tajikistan

Cinema Tajikistan in Dushanbe was built in the 1970s by the Ukrainian architect Alexander Makukha (1931-2008) on the southern outskirts of the city. The facade is a work by Asror Aminjanov (1930-1990).

The cinema has been closed for a long time and is falling into disrepair.

The first cinema in Dushanbe opened in 1928. In the same years, three more cinemas were opened in Tajikistan (Istaravshan, Khujand, Konibodom). In 1932, the Tajik-Kino trust had 65 cinemas or film distribution points (including 31 clubs: 9 military, 15 state-owned and 10 school). There were also 45 mobile cinemas in the republic. In 1929, the republic's cinema network had 14 cinemas. For the predominantly illiterate population, cinemas were of great importance as cultural venues.

In 1970, the number of cinemas reached 1,112. Several large-format cinemas operate in Tajikistan, including the former Jomi cinema (with 1,000 seats), Tajikistan (with 800 seats), and the Orlyonok children's cinema (with 500 seats) (Source: Wikipedia).

The postcard is from a postcard-collection from the Soviet Travel Agency Turist, more a souvenir than a postcard.

Uránia in Budapest / Hungary

 

Uránia Nemzeti Filmszínház / Urania National Film Theatre is the most beautiful cinema in Budapest and home to a film and cinema-loving audience with film festivals, gala premieres and other prestigious film-professional events.

It was built by Kálmán Rimanóczy (1840-1908), a building contractor from Oradea, in the mid-1890s. Henrik Schmahl (1849-1912) from Hamburg was the architect. He created the building in the popular Oriental style. The architect was originally commissioned to create a music and dance hall which opened as a cabaret called Oroszi Caprice (Russian Caprice),

In 1899 opened here the Uránia Science Theatre. The name Urania is connected with the idea and movement of free education for adults in the second half of the nineteenth century. In 1897, on the initiative of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the Uránia Educational Association was founded, which aimed to popularize science. It held regularly lectures and readings for the citizens of Budapest. In 1899, the Uránia Science Theatre was equipped with a projection system suitable for the presentation of still images and later moving images - the Uránia Film Theatre was born.

This place Uránia is also famous for the first staged Hungarian film - A táncz (1901). Scenes of the film were shot on the roof terrace of the Uránia Science Theatre by Béla Zsitkovszky (1868-1930).  But not a single copy of the film has been preserved, only the printed text of the performance, some photos from the shooting and the stage sheet. In commemoration of the first screening of this film, Hungarian Film Day has been celebrated on April 30 since 2018.

From 1916, Uránia offered cinema programmes every evening. Scientific lectures were reduced to the afternoons and over time canceled at all.

In 1930, the German UFA film factory bought the cinema and it became an UFA Palace. There were showed mainly UFA films with great success. After World War II, it became a Sovexport cinema. Later, the building returned to Hungarian ownership and became a popular cinema in the capital.

In 2002, the building was restored to its original beauty. Now it has a great hall with a total capacity of 425 people and two chamber halls for 60 people. These halls named after two legendary personalities of the Hungarian film history, the film director Zoltán Fábri (1917-1994) and the actor Gyula Csortos (1883-1945).

In 2006, the Uránia Nemzeti Filmszínház received the European Union's Europa Nostra Prize for outstanding monument restoration.

In the same building, there is also the Színház- és Filmművészeti Egyetem, the University of Theatre and Film Studies

The postcard was published in 2024, the photo was taken by Ibolya Balla. The cinema advertises the 14. Frankofón Filmnapok - Francophone Film Days.

Palais des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles / Belgium

 

The Palais des Beaux-Arts / Paleis voor Schone Kunsten / Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels was designed by the architect Victor Horta (1861-1947) in Art Deco style, and completed in 1929 at the instigation of the banker and patron of the arts Henry Le Bœuf (1874-1935).

Horta took on many challenges: making art and culture accessible to as many people as possible, offering the best possible conditions for every form of artistic expression and creating a link between the upper and lower parts of the city. All this while maintaining architectural research.

The long entrance area gives access to the concert hall (named after Henry Le Boeuf) with a capacity of 2,200 seats, which, like the theater hall, is located on the lower floor. On the ground floor is the sculpture hall (now the Victor Horta Hall), which leads to the exhibition rooms on the upper floor via a large staircase. The large hall was also suitable for film screenings.

Since 2002, the cultural center has been divided into eight artistic departments under the name BOZAR: exhibitions, music, film, dance, theater, literature, studios and architecture

The modern postcard shows a view from 1958, Festival Mondial took place at the Palais. The World Film Festival was organized on the occasion of the 1958 World Exhibition in Brussels.

There was also an International film poll. The poll received nominations from 117 critics from 26 nations. Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin received 100 votes, Chaplin's The Gold Rush second with 95 votes.

Capitol in Königs Wusterhausen / Germany

 

This cinema in Königs Wusterhausen next to Berlin was built and opened on 22 October 1930 with the name Lichtspiele Bahnhofshotel. The owner of the Bahnhofshotel Gustav Schulz built this cinema, it was called Capitol in 1932.

The movie theater worked until 2000. After it was closed due to the construction of a new multiplex cinema 3 km away, the cinema was used by other businesses. However, the charm of the building was never lost and demanded its original purpose.

In 2005, Wolfgang Jurk, the former movie theater manager, and his wife Anne reopened the Capitol with a new concept as a place of culture and since then the Capitol has been offering films on the screen and culture on the stage.

The cinema has one hall with 93 seats in the stalls and 35 seats in the gallery.

Look here a short film about cinema's history.

The postcard was published in 1967. You can see advertisemnet for the film "Solange Leben in mir ist" - a 1965 GDR movie about Karl Liebknecht (1871-1919).

L'Eden-Cinéma in Lons-Le-Saunier

 

The 1913 sent postcard shows "L'Eden-Cinema" on the Promenade de la Chevalerie in Lons-Le-Saunier (Jura). 

Le Progrès writes about this place: Cars are now invading “Promenade de la Chevaliere”. It was once a pleasant place for walks, as its name suggests, with large trees. There was a charming bandstand there, built in 1878 and disappeared less than a century later, in 1974, without us really knowing under what circumstances. The band of the 44th infantry regiment garrisoned in Lons or the Municipal Harmony gave concerts there on Sunday afternoons and Thursday evenings in the summer.

Next door was the Chalet café where the Lédoniens stopped for refreshments. In 1908, it covered and closed his upstairs terrace. Particularly for thermal spa guests, the café sets up a stage and gives shows, taking the name Kursaal. In 1912, he succumbed to the cinema craze and became “Eden-Cinéma”. This was the first cinema in Lons-le-Saunier. Later, it took the name “The Regent”, until 2014 when it fell under the blows of excavators and demolition workers to transform into a modern multi-room: “The Mégarama”.

The Mégarama multiplex with 7 rooms and 990 seats was designed by the Carril architectural firm.