Community Space Smíchov is a multifunctional space creating a connecting platform at the heart of the Smíchov neighborhood. With a program full of cultural, social and educational activities, we welcome everyone from everywhere.
We connect, cooperate and share with people living in the surrounding area, crossing all social, generational and ethnic boundaries.
We're focused on supporting families in unfavorable social situations, elderly people and ethnic minorities, including those of diverse socio-cultural backgrounds, immigrants and asylum seekers in the area.
Projekt KPS je zřízen a realizován farním sborem ČCE Smíchov.
Our Philosophy
We divide our activities into three categories, following three parts of human life: Breath – Story – Act. This idea is based on Comenius' theology of the necessity of one – unum necessarium. Alongside Amos we discover “what a human being truly needs to know in order to live well and die well”.
breath
/reconnection with your depth: self-discovering workshops, therapies and spaces where to come to peace and silence/
It symbolizes a return to human origin and represents what makes us move, which enroots fascination and creation in us, what brings us to the important components, where we source our strength and hope, courage and love.
It's an interface to calm down and seek, a space for yourself. We focus on meditation and work with your body, breath and voice. Movement, dance and expression therapies, musical workshops, performative self-discovery outtakes or prayers with elements of contemporary art.
story
/ability to navigate yourself and to find meaning in the labyrinth of the world and your own life: education, growth and creative activities/
It symbolizes synchronization of your deep experience, forming a meaningful unit which you can understand as one whole story. It represents the ability to view the full picture of your life.
Lecture series and meetings, educational, growth and creative activities. Wanting to hear and listen, meet and sort our opinions, learn new things. To tell and talk, share and help each other to find a way.
act
/reforming understanding into wisdom that can make action: workshops, crafting, counseling and help in practise/
It symbolizes transformation of the gained knowledge and understanding into wisdom with which we can give, create and act. An act which includes understanding yourself, the contexts of the world around you and relations in which you're being placed. It represents the overreach of our personal life into the public sphere.
We focus on vulnerable groups of people in our surroundings in order to introduce them to an active civic life. We try to connect with local neighbors, so that we can meet and support each other. We want to help in practice, we want to act. Together. We established a community garden, beekeeping and a shared community workshop. We provide financial and legal advice, and operate food aid for those in need. We are members of the local neighborhood platform Sousedění.
Referring to…
history of our space, the Evangelical Church of the Czech Brethren (shortly ECCB) in Smíchov, Prague 5, which had served the local community already in the times of the First Czechoslovak Republic, with the goal to refine its surroundings – by opening a movie theater, classic theater or library, to name a few.
The foundation stone was laid on the 5th of October 1930. The decision was made in 1927, due to a so-called “transfer movement”, resulting in a rising number of the members of the church, causing the capacity of the previous space to be insufficient. Up until then, the community meetings were held in a school chapel of today's Gymnazium Na Zatlance. With a new space, the church decided to take on further responsibilities and get on a path of education and improvement of the life of locals. Thus, a theater, a library and even a new cinema – with German and Russian avant-garde movies being played in the 1930s – were opened.
At the times of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, the younger generations among the members of the church started to form a resistance group “Předvoj” [vanguard]. Post war, Smíchov's church became a spiritual home of Milada Horáková (a Czech politician executed by the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia) alongside with others who – more or less – suffered from the later persecution.
After the end of the communist regime, the building required large reconstructions and repairs, renewing its former life.
In the last years, the church became a venue for various artistic experiments and performances. Since the year 2014, it became a home to the Animation People company. The church followed its former political activity by sustaining a legal consultancy for climate change activists Extincion Rebellion, and for a short period of time, it also provided space for the Million Moments for Democracy team meetings.
The Evangelical church took part in the foundation of a non-formal local platform “Sousedění”, which connects actions and activities of other organizations in the close neighborhood: Elementary School Santoška, Gymnazium Na Zatlance, department of the Municipal Library of Prague in Prague 5, People in Need, Sananim and other. The church itself was also managing several charity projects.
However, even that was not enough to restore the level of use at the time of its opening. Therefore, the evangelical church came to the decision to follow up on its past and build a community space.
The much needed interior reconstruction was done according to the result of a public architectural competition. The church obtained financial support of the European Structural and Investment Funds – OP PPR ČR, and also other foundations and support systems like Via Foundation, the Prague 5 City District support or the ECCB donation system.
The Community Space Smíchov was officially opened on the 23rd of April 2022. Since then, we work on creating a safe, inspiring and welcoming space for all of us.
Documents:
Annual report of the year 2024
Annual report of the year 2023
Annual report of the year 2022
![Chrám v Praze 5-Smíchov, interiér, kazatelna, [do 1953]](https://kpsmichov.cz/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Praha-Smichov_evangelicky_kostel_interier_Archiv_CCE.jpg){kind=link}
