The European Investment Bank (EIB) is lending 2 bn Czech crowns (ca €84 million) for the construction of a state-of-the-art concert hall in the Czech city of Ostrava. The EIB credit covers most of the financing for the planned €115.5 million cultural landmark in Ostrava, the third-largest Czech city with a population of 318,000. Located in the northeastern Moravian-Silesian region, Ostrava is close to the village where renowned composer Leoš Janáček was born in 1854 and is where he died in 1928.