Hradec Králové will return the fountain to the Great Square and announce an architectural competition

Hradec Králové - The city council of Hradec Králové plans to build a fountain again in the historic Great Square in the city center. An architectural and artistic competition for its design will be announced by the end of May. The conditions of the competition and the composition of the jury were approved by the city council today. The city council would like to place the fountain in Great Square near the old town hall no. 1, where a similar water feature once existed in the past. The city hopes to have the results of the competition this fall.

In the western part of Great Square, near the old town hall, three fountains once stood in succession. The last of them disappeared in 1937. The city council would like to tie back to the last fountain and remind people of it again. "The appearance of the new fountain has been partially defined. It should be a testimony to the era in which it is created. It should reflect the new look of Great Square," said Adam Záruba, the Deputy Mayor for Land Use Planning, Urbanism, and Architecture (Change for Hradec).

The architectural competition will be in two rounds. A professional jury will select three to five concepts from the submitted proposals in an anonymous procedure, whose author teams the city council will invite to submit more detailed proposals. "In the second phase of the competition, the jury will evaluate the best designs. The city will negotiate with the winner of the competition about refining the project," Záruba stated.

The preparation and organization of the competition will be handled by the planning office ONplan, which collaborated with the city last year on the architectural competition for the transformation of the communist memorial The Gallery of Honor at the Koruna intersection.

For the major reconstruction of Great Square, which is currently a large parking lot, the city council is selecting a designer. The actual reconstruction, if everything goes smoothly, could begin in 2028. The cost of the project is estimated by the city to be more than 600 million crowns.

The renewal of the historic square has been in preparation by the city for nearly 20 years. Some residents have objections to the transformation of the square, mainly due to the proposed reduction in parking spaces. The city leadership, arising from the elections in 2022, decided that the basic concept of the square's reconstruction would be changed to include new requirements. For example, it also considers the reconstruction of Komenského street along the square, where new parking spaces should compensate for their reduction in the square.

Two rows of trees should be planted in the square, and water features should be added. Instead of cobblestones, the square should be repaved with cut paving stones. The center of the square should belong to pedestrians.