Cinema Lucerna (english: lantern) is the oldest cinema in Bohemia and one of the oldest worldwide, has working since 3 December 1909. It is located inside the Palác Lucerna in the Prague city center. The unusual building, stylistically on the border between Art Nouveau
and Modernism, is one of the first reinforced concrete buildings in
Prague. It also has a unique passage with a glazed roof. This modern palace on Prague's Wencelas Square was built by Vácslav Havel, a real estate developer. (The postcard picture top left shows his bust, made by Jan Štursa.) Brother Miloš Havel established Barrandov Studios in Prague. Former president Václav Havel was the grandson of Vácslav Havel. The Lucerna Palais with Cinema Lucerna still belongs to the Havel family.
Currently the cinema hall has 453 seats, it is equipped with cutting-edge 4K digital technology also enabling 3D projection, with Dolby Surround 7.1 sound system and it is the most visited classic cinema in the Czech Republic.
A second hall with 51 seats opened in 2013 (postcard picture bottom right). Former it was used to be a private screening room to Miloš Havel.
Palais and cinema are used also for filmmaking, for instance the 2007 French movie La Vie en Rose about Édith Piaf with Marion Cotillard. The beginning and the end of her career was shot in the premises of Lucerna Palais.
The sculpture in the middle of the postcard is made by David Černý, showing St. Wenceslas riding a dead horse.
I got this postcard via Postcrossing from Martin, he is working in Palác Lucerna. Děkuji, Martine!
And published it on my blog on European Arthouse Cinema Day 2019.
Another postcard from Kino International in Berlin.
This time it was a bit harder to determine the date of the photo on the basis of the movie poster. I succeeded with the help of the book Mehr Kunst als Werbung. Das DDR Filmplakat 1945 bis 1990 by Detlef Helmbold, which contains all East German cinema posters. Looking this book is like a walk through film and design history.
The poster on the cinema belongs to the movie Die zweite Wahrheit/La seconde vérité. It is a 1966 French film directed by Christian-Jaque.
The movie started on 13 October 1967 at Kino International.
The postcard was published by Verlag Felix Setecki, Berlin, in 1968.
The cinema Moskva in Minsk is a late Soviet era building. It was opened on 19 September 1980 and was the first widescreen cinema in Belarus. Architects were Viktor Kramarenko, Vladimir Shcherbina and Mikhail Vinogradov.
The cinema has two halls - for 260 seats and 1070 seats, designed for showing films, holding conferences or concerts. In the foyer of the cinema there is an exhibition hall, a lecture hall with 120 seats, also intended for showing short films. Also in it is the Minsk theater-studio of a film actor, designed for 260 seats, the Paradise Show, there is a billiard room, a bar, and evening discos are held.
The cinema is still working, but has no website.
