Its return to freedom in 1989 was a major milestone in the history of the city. Only now we can finally see how neglected the city was after forty years of socialist development and industrialization, and what investments are required for its restoration. Grey and sleepy Svitavy have begun to develop a new identity and look for a different face.
In 1993 – 94, total regeneration of the urban conservation area was commenced. Svitavy’s square, which had been shrouded in colourless uniformity, finally regained its true value –Renaissance, Baroque architecture. For having successfully completed the project, as the first city in the Czech Republic, Svitavy was awarded a prize for successful regeneration of a conservation area. The prestigious prize was awarded to city representatives by the Minister of Culture Pavel Tigrid.
The city has also exerted a great deal of efforts into the revitalization of prefabricated housing and new housing development. Within a decade, new residential areas were successfully filled and construction was launched on blocks of flats and houses. In 2008, the last block of flats in the ownership of the city was reconstructed into a more acceptable form. Svitavy is investing heavily into the regeneration of housing courtyards, where new greenery is planted and roads are repaired.
Attention is also given to leisure time activities for the locals of Svitavy. It not only includes the modern sports hall, used by professional and recreational athletes. There are also small pitches here with artificial surfaces for modern fields of sport. European Funds were drawn to finance the project of repairing the football and athletics stadium, which has become a centre of sport relaxation in open air. Svitavy’s stadium is the natural gateway to the green ring around the city, the base of which has become the Patriot’s Park and Vodárenský Forest and its educational train with game and educational elements.
The objective of the project is the interconnection of the ring of greenery with interesting natural sites in the immediate vicinity of the city. The most significant of them is Rosnička Pond with an adjacent forest complex Brand, where visitors can use a number of interesting physical and recreational activities: outdoor gym, fitness trail, cycle path adapted to wheelchair users, an educational trail with interactive elements and the reconstructed monument to queen bees with an interesting shelter over a well with a functional winch. The recreational zone continues from the in-line track in Lačnov to the Disc Golf park, the venue of teaching beginners and sports tournaments at a national level.
Major investments of the city are also made in projects that are not visible at first sight – the city is reconstructing the sewer system in stages, as well as repairing the waste water treatment plan and trying to protect itself against floods. Regeneration of green areas and parks is related to environmental care. Jan Palach Park or the park in Wolker avenue are proof of this, as well as the work on the natural recreational zone in the complex of Rosnička Pond.
In 2006 – 2008, European funds were successfully used to implement a fundamental project. The multifunctional building of the former Svitavy Manufacture , the remains of industrial architecture of the 20th century, has changed its face entirely. It has become the base for many clubs and civic activities, it holds a modern theatre and meeting hall that has become a popular venue for artists from many fields, actors and musicians. The City Library , which has filled the building of the Manufacture, is one of the most modern in the Pardubice Region, with the special attribute “Library of the Third Millennium”. European funds have also helped reconstruct some of the dilapidated buildings – the Café in the Park and Oskar Schindler Information Centre serves to promote tourism in the Bohemia-Moravia Borderland.
The diversity of local culture is supported by the museum and gallery with a unique focus on the history of washing technology and the life story of the local native Oskar Schindler, the rescuer of 1200 persecuted Jews during the Holocaust. A particularity that is unique in the Czech Republic is the Esperanto Museum in the historical building of the Ottendorfer Library.
With its extensive network of social services, new hospital, boarding home for the elderly, Senior Centre, barrier free routes in the city, its investments into sacred and secular monuments, Svitavy is poised in the elite society of historical settlements with modern face. Svitavy city has repeatedly been awarded by the European Commission of the Environment for compliance with EU requirements in the environmental field.