Lichtbild-Theater in Varnsdorf / Czech Republic

 

Varnsdorf (German: Warnsdorf) is a town in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic and lies on the border with Germany.

The cinema was built by the Varnsdorf company Schmidt & Röttig as the first permanent cinema in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1912. The owner Ferdinand Pietsch used the building as a cinema and concert hall. 

Later there was a Kinoklub and Kinokavárna (Cinema Café). Now closed, but still standing.

Today there is the cinema Centrum Panorama in Varnsdorf, opened in 1971 and famous for its 70mm-film projection.

Kino in Nový Bor / Czech Republic

 

Kultura Nový Bor writes about the cinema: 

The permanent screening of silent films was allowed to the town of Bor near Česká Lípa on September 10, 1920, by granting a license to the District Political Administration in Česká Lípa with the assurance that no further concession would be granted within a radius of 4 km. It was screened in the building of today's falconry, which then belonged to the German Gymnastics Association. This makeshift, dependent on the benevolence of the association, led the city council to build its own modern theater building, which also serves to screen films. 

The cinema was a project of the architect Rudolf Bitzan, a native of Stráž pod Ralskem, living in Dresden, who has already designed the new theater in Teplice and a cinema in Teplice. He was also architect of the Crematorium and urn grove in Liberec-Perštýn. According to his plan, the cinema was built by the local company Rösler and Glaser, under the leadership of architect Riegl.

The ceremonial opening took place on November 13, 1926 at 8 pm, with the participation of important guests from the provincial authorities, district representatives and representatives of neighboring towns and villages. On Sunday, November 14, the morning promenade concert in front of the cinema followed, and in the evening the feature film An der schönen blauen Donau (Germany, 1926) was screened. Ferdinand Krehan from Česká Lípa became the tenant of the building.

Until 1980, two reconstructions took place, which mainly concerned projection technology, electrical installation and interior. On June 30, 1981, a large fire destroyed virtually the entire building. The next day, the Municipal National Committee decided on a complete reconstruction of the cinema. According to the architectural solution of Ing. arch. Rudolf Bergr and Ing. Vladimír Novák from Stavoprojekt Ústí nad Labem, carried out the reconstruction of the Nový Bor District Construction Company. Construction manager Walter John handed over the construction to the Municipal National Committee in April 1989.

On April 21, 1989, the cinema was ceremoniously opened with a new Czech film Oznamuje se láskám vašim / Communicating to Your Love. Mr. Radovan Novotný was appointed head of the cinema. The Municipal Cinema won the "Cinema of the Year" award in 1996 and 1999.

The Cinema still works and has one hall with 293 seats.

The postcard was published between 1938 and 1945, when the city belonged to Germany. Since 1948 the town is named Nový Bor. 

Kino in Benešov nad Ploučnicí/Czech Republic

Stadt-Bensner-Lichtspiele is written on the postcard. Bensen is today Benešov nad Ploučnicí, a town in the Ústí nad Labem region of the Czech Republic.

The cinema was built in 1927 and was reconstructed several times. Today it is used as the municipal cultural center. It has a deep stage that also offers space for larger theater or music ensembles as well as balls, exhibitions and competitions.

Kino Vysočina in Žďár nad Sázavou/Czech Republic

Žďár nad Sázavou is a town in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has now approximately 21.000 inhabitants and is the administrative capital of the Žďár nad Sázavou District. The city is a prominent centre of tourism, situated on a major rail link between Prague and Brno.

The town gained prominence after 1945 when the communist government decided to build steel works in the city, called ŽĎAS. Within less than twenty years the Population grew from about 3.000 in 1950 to 15.000 in 1969.

New residential areas were also built with the necessary social buildings, including the cinema.

Kino Vysočina opened on 15 August 1963 with the screening of the wide-screen and colorful Slovak film Jánošík  and was one of the most modern cinemas in Czechoslovakia.
In 2011, the cinema underwent the aforementioned digitization, and in 2014 the cinema operation went under the administration of the town.

Licht- und Schauspielhaus in Krnov/Czech Republic

Another cinema designed by Leo Kammel. 
The official opening took place on 11 November 1928. The renowned pianist Poldi Mildner performed at the event accompanied by the Municipal Orchestra; after the concert, there was a screening of the film Der Meister von Nürnberg / The Master of Nuremberg (Germany, 1927).
The original name of the theatre was Lichtspiel und Stadttheater / Městské kino a divadlo v Krnově (The Municipal Cinema and Theatre in Krnov). After the communist putsch in February 1948, the theatre was renamed to Julius Fučik’s Theatre. This is why the bust of this member of the communist revolt promoted by the propaganda was installed in the theatre. After 1945, the cinema was named Narodni. In 1990, the name of the theatre was changed back to the Municipal Theatre Krnov and the bust of J. Fucik was removed.
This unique example of expressionist theatre architecture in Czech Republic is today the
Městské divadlo / Municipall Theatre in Krnov.
You can read more about this building on the Theatre Database.

Kino in Kamenický Šenov/Czech Republic

The architect Leo Kammel was born in Steinschönau/Kamenický Šenov in 1885. He built this cinema in 1928, two years before the Kino in Nový Jičín.
On the postcard there is written "Kino und Stadttheater Steinschönau - Cinema and City Theatre". But above the entrance is only written "Kino". You can see a man in one opened window, maybe Leo Kammel?
The cinema is still in use, now named Kino Hvězda (english "Star").

Kino in Nový Jičín/Czech Republic

Neutitschein, Lichtspielhaus is written on this postcard, sent in 1941 by military mail.

The cinema opened on 25 December 1930, with 720 seats and named Kino Kosmos. It was built by the architect Leo Kammel (1885-1948).
Leo Kammel senior was the son of glass dealer Willibald Kammel and Johanna née Palme. In 1902–1905, he studied drawing and painting at the School of Applied Arts in Prague. Later he attended the Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied architecture under Professor Jan Kotěra. After graduating, he settled in Vienna around 1913, where he worked as an independent architect. In 1929 he lectured at the Technical University of Vienna. During the interwar period he designed in Austria, especially in Vienna, where he participated in the design of residential units and created the marketplace project (1935) and in Czechoslovakia. His extensive work is not fully documented. In the period before the First World War he worked in the Classicist style under the influence of Otto Wagner. In the 1920s he was influenced by Czech Cubist architecture and was considered an important representative of Cubism. In the interwar period he was influenced by decorativism and expressionism and the work of Peter Behrens (1868 - 1940) and Clemens Holzmeister (1886 - 1983). Since the 1930s, expressionist creation has shifted to functionalism. 
The cinema building in Nový Jičín is influenced of Erich Mendelsohn's work (1887 - 1953). You can find other cinemas designed by Leo Kammel in Baden/Austria (Cinema Paradiso), in Kamenický Šeno and in Krnov.

The cinema in Nový Jičín is still in use, its name is now Kino Kvéten - Cinema May. It was renovated in 2005 by Architráv. Now it has one modern equipped hall with a total capacity of 455 seats (287 seats on the ground floor, balconies 86 + 82 seats).

Kino Lucerna in Praha/Czech Republic

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.

Lichtspielhaus in Neu-Oderberg / Nový Bohumín in Czech Republic

The Czech town Bohumín near the Polish border has a difficult history. The town was named Neu-Oderberg O/S. (Oberschlesien) after the annexion by Nazi Germany between 1939 and 1945 - so it is written on the postcard. 
Unfortunately I don't know anything about the history of this building. But fortunately it is still in use - today as  KULTURNÍ DŮM K3. It was modernized in 2006.

Kino Sevastopol in Prague / Czech Republic

Kino Sevastopol is in the middle house on the postcard in the street Na Příkopě 31 in Czech capital Prague. The house was built as Příkopy Palace for the insurers of Moldavia Generali and Assicurazioni Generali in 1936-38 by the architects Bohumír Kozák and Antonín Černý in functionalist style. The palace was and is known for its shopping passage, which connects the streets of Celetna and Na Příkopě. The cinema was opened on September 9, 1938 as Cinema Broadway, located in the basement of the building, and was most elegant movie theather in Prague. The whole building is now an inherited cultural monument.
The cinema was called Sevastopol after the Soviet army came to Prague in May 1945. Sevastopol is a city located in the southwestern region of the Crimean Peninsula on the Black Sea. There was the the Battle of Sevastopol during World War II from October 1940 until July 1942.
The Cinema named to Cinema Broadway again after 1989. It was the first Czech cinema that had a SDDS surround sound. It closed in 1998. In December 2001 a new musical theatre was opened in the rooms: Divadlo Broadway. 
The postcard is from the 1950s. You can read Kino Sevastopol over the entrance and see advertisment for a movie with a sail. Maybe it was the 1937 Soviet movie Белеет парус одинокий / The lonely White Sail / Na obzoru plachta bílá after the novel by Valetin Katajew.

Letní kino in Karlovy Vary/Czech Republic

The open-air cinema in Karlovy Vary/Carlsbad/Karlsbad opened in 1946 with 3500 seats. It is still used as a cinema: Letní kino. You can see there movies and listen to concerts. It is also a scene of the International Film Festival. But you can't see there the newest movies, because there isn't the digital technic. There are shown older movies with good 35 mm projectors. Kino Nostalgia.