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EUGEN KRAMÁR
LIFE AND WORKS
Copyright © 2025 AK
HIGH TATRAS
1970
WORLD
CHAMPIONSHIPS
IN CLASSICAL
DISCIPLINES
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“After the idea for the World Championships was explained to me, I said: ‘I’ll do it for you.’ Then we went to see Deputy Director Viktor Malinovský — and that was it.”
In 1970, the High Tatras hosted one of the most significant sporting events in the history of Czechoslovakia — the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. The decision to hold the event there was made in 1967 by the International Ski Federation (FIS) Congress, and the championships took place from 14 to 22 February 1970.
For the region, it was a unique opportunity to present itself to the world — and also a reason for extensive investment in infrastructure and architecture. The construction of sports facilities and other amenities for the championships cost over 800 million Czechoslovak korunas.
The 1970 championships went down in skiing history as the most attended event of their kind up to that time, drawing an impressive total of 320,000 spectators — surpassing even the audience numbers of skiing competitions at the Winter Olympics.
AREÁL SNOV
After the 1960 amnesty, Eugen Kramár was released from prison.
Although he was formally rehabilitated and creative freedom in Bratislava was gradually expanding, concerns about possible renewed persecution led him to relocate to Košice, where he took a position at Stavoprojekt.
There, he became involved in the design of a winter sports complex for the upcoming FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. According to Kramár, the project was originally modest in scale, initiated by only a handful of passionate idealists.
"After the first designs and a model made by Janko Šprlák, the three of us — Valér Pobeha, the chief architect of the Tatras Ján Čejka, and I — went to the East Slovak Ironworks, bringing only a modest, small bridge. To our pleasant surprise, they promised a delivery."
Although the budget for such a large project was relatively modest, the team succeeded in winning the support of local party officials. Construction was undertaken — albeit with some hesitation — by the state company Pozemné stavby, and over time, funding was also secured for ski lifts, electrical systems, and infrastructure.
Eugen Kramár was the author of the architectural and urban design concept for the “Dream Complex” in Mlynická dolina. It included two ski jumps (70 m and 90 m) designed by Jan Šprlák Uličný, as well as the finish area for the classic skiing disciplines. The site also featured a judges’ tower and a grandstand with metal bleachers.
A distinctive feature of the master plan was the placement of the finish zones for all ski disciplines next to each other, allowing spectators to see the entire competition from one vantage point. At the heart of the complex, below the ski jumps, stood the FIS Hotel, also designed by Kramár. His work in the Tatras further included the ČEDOK building and the Mountain Rescue Service headquarters in Starý Smokovec, the Tatranec campsite with its traditional koliba in Tatranská Lomnica, as well as, in collaboration with Tibor Klein, the Pod Lesom apartment buildings and the Štrbské Pleso railway station.
The opening ceremony and the championships themselves were a great success, earning highly positive feedback from abroad. The layout of the complex even drew the attention of Finnish architects, who requested Kramár’s plans and later drew significant inspiration from them when designing the next World Championships in Lahti.
HOTEL FIS
The FIS Hotel, named after the International Ski Federation, is one of Eugen Kramár’s best-known works and a key building constructed for the 1970 World Championships.
It is a two-wing structure with sloping roofs, connected by a glass staircase. The façade is enlivened by balconies, whose design reflects an understanding of the local climate — their construction allows snowmelt to drain away without difficulty.
The hotel has a capacity of 175 beds and originally housed a restaurant, a common room, and facilities for athletes and journalists.
The original intention was to build accommodation for athletes. Eugen Kramár viewed its reclassification as a hotel quite critically, as in his view the building’s parameters and construction budget were insufficient to meet the necessary requirements.
"FIS president Max Holder, in a building modestly prepared as accommodation for athletes — although it was already being referred to as a hotel — smashed a bottle of champagne against the rough wall in the lobby, and after the speeches by our officials, stars were suddenly being added to the hotel’s rating. I felt it was a great betrayal of both the author and the standards, because the building had been designed for a different purpose, truly modestly, as there simply were no funds for more."
Despite the rather limited architectural brief and budget, Hotel FIS remains one of the most successful examples of Tatra architecture, where Eugen Kramár managed to combine the principles of late functionalism with mountain architecture. It is sensitively and proportionally integrated into the surrounding alpine landscape and still represents an inseparable part of what is now, unfortunately, a largely non-functional complex in the Mlynická Valley.
OTHER PROJECTS
Mountain Rescue Service
Starý Smokovec
[1965 – 1966]
Apartment Buildings Pod Lesom
Dolný Smokovec
[1968-1969] * s T. Kleinom
ČEDOK
Starý Smokovec
[1965 – 1966]
GALLERY - TATRA MOUNTAINS 1970
RETURN TO TATRA MOUNTAINS - EUROCAMP FICC
Eurocamp FICC was, at the time of its opening, the finest campsite in the Tatra Mountains, comparable in size to camps in Austria and Switzerland. Built in 1974, it hosted that year’s World Rally of the Fédération Internationale de Camping, Caravanning et Autocaravaning (FICC), from which it also took its name.
Eugen Kramár, together with Alexander Valentovič, worked on the overall architectural and urban design, with Kramár serving as the principal author of the bungalow designs.
With its beautiful views of the Tatras, the camp offered 116 single-story bungalows (464 beds), a reception, information center, wine bar, two restaurants with more than 200 seats, a traditional Tatra koliba (inn), the “Fortuna” disco, a sauna, swimming pool with simple wellness facilities, and a shopping center. Every tent and caravan pitch had an electrical hookup.
In the decades that followed, the site suffered from neglect due to underinvestment. The buildings deteriorated, unprofitable structures were removed, and after several failed attempts at revitalization, Eurocamp closed in 2009. Today, only ruins remain, and restoring it to its original form is no longer possible.
“All of us who shape the material culture of the Tatras should make a great effort to organize local life well and to refine the subtle beauty of the area so that, in the presence of such an active element as greenery and sculpted nature, our buildings always serve as a dignified complement to civilization — with architecture sensitively enhancing nature, and greenery, in turn, being skillfully composed into the architecture.”
Eugen Kramár and High Tatras
Eugen Kramár’s work for the 1970 World Championships in the High Tatras ranks among the highlights of his architectural career. The event was one of the most important in the history of the Tatras. He achieved a unique balance between architectural monumentality and the mountain landscape. The TATRY brochure offers a concise view of a body of work that left a lasting mark.
