The publication is the first book to provide a comprehensive account of the building of a nationwide network of cultural houses, which were systematically established during the socialist period in the former Czechoslovakia. As places of public life in post-war society, these buildings enjoyed generous state support, not only economically but also politically and legislatively. Our interest is not only focused on their specific typology, but we also look at their educational and emancipatory potential as well as their role as a political tool for the organization and control of leisure. The pu.