The Secondary School of Applied Art (SUPŠ) was founded in 1939 by the shoe manufacturing firm of BATA in the Moravian town of Zlín. At that time, the aim was to develop the skills of young artists who would work in the advertising department of the firm and thus help to improve the standard of advertising of its products.
Zlín is a town of architectural significance, in the 1930s, Bata commissioned Le Corbusier to produce a town plan in the form of a garden city for the workers. A number of his proposal were implemented.
During World War II, many well-known artists found asylum at this school following the closure of the universities and colleges the Nazi protectoin rate of Bohemia and Moravia.
These artists contributed to a higher level of education at the school, introducing the progressive ideas of both Bauhaus and the American educational system.
In 1952, the school moved to Uherské Hradiště and is located in two buildings in the centre of the town. Its facilities comprise studios, workshops, classrooms, an exhibition hall, a refectory, and a library.
Uherské Hradiště is the ancient historical capital of Moravia. In the 9th century, the Greek missionaries Cyril and Methodius travelled from Thessaloniki to bring Christianity to the Great Moravian Empire the centre of which was somewhere near Uherské Hradiště which has been proved by many valuable archeological finds in this region. It was from this beginning that the use of the Cyrilic alphabet came into use in not only Moravia but also Serbia, Bulgaria, the Ukraine and Russia. Where as this alphabet is still in use in the latter countries, that is no longer the case in Moravia.
In the 17th century, the educational philosopher Comenius was born in the nearby town of Uherský Brod.
SUPŠ is a state school of art and design and operates nine four years full time vocational courses which prepare students for careers in industry.
SUPŠ has produced a lot of generations of fine artists and industrial designers who have played an important role in the Czech fine art history. The curricula include field studies in various parts of the Czech Republic and in the countries such as France and Italy.
There has also been estabilished students exchange with University Suffolk College, Art and Design, Further Education, Ipswich, Great Britain and SISA Antwerpen, Belgium on annual basis.
In 1998, SUPŠ became a partner school in one of European Community educational programmes called COMENIUS which is of three years´duration. The programme serves to promote cooperation in the field of education by emphasising the European dimension of education and encouraging contacts among students through their work on various fine art projects, the first year being Expressionism, the next one Art Noveau and the last one Pop Art
