Workers started the demolition of the monument in Přerov, the office stopped them

Přerov - Workers today began the demolition of the Přerov community house Trávník again, which the Ministry of Culture wants to re-add to the list of cultural monuments. According to eyewitnesses, an excavator started working on the site and was bringing down walls. However, officials from the building authority, assisted by police officers, soon halted the work, stating that the conditions of the demolition order had still not been met. Discussions with the construction company are to continue on Friday, said Jiří Just, head of the Přerov building authority, to ČTK.
    According to information from ČTK, the company has not yet provided evidence of the disconnection of engineering networks, so workers can only clean up at the site for now. The rescue of the Přerov monument is likely to initiate the preparation of a new monument law.
    According to Přerov councilor Marta Jandová, who has been involved in saving the monument for several months, the workers began demolition work this afternoon. "The excavator is pushing from the back of the main building and demolishing, the workers have started dismantling the gable by hand. Large heavy trucks are driving around here. They stopped for a moment when I called out to them that they were breaking the law, but they have already started the excavator again,” Jandová told ČTK around 2:30 PM. The head of the Přerov building authority then sent a state supervisor to the site, and with the help of the municipal police, halted the construction work.
    Přerov residents and city representatives have been striving to save the Trávník community house for six days now. Culture Minister Václav Jehlička also arrived at the site on Monday. Today's developments disappointed the minister, and he condemned the behavior of the property owners. "The minister is convinced that this is a sad example of the vulnerability of the system for the protection of immovable cultural monuments. The Ministry of Culture has tried until the last moment to use all available means to prevent the demolition of the building. The Minister of Culture wants to start preparing a new monument law that would clearly define this entire process as soon as possible,” said Renata Slámková, the minister's personal secretary, to ČTK today.
    According to Petra Ulbrichová from the Ministry of Culture's heritage protection department, the fate of the monument is currently in the hands of the city and the building authority. "The fate of the community house is important to us. It could set a precedent for other owners of such properties on how to behave and get rid of the monument protection. Otherwise, we have as many cases as there are mushrooms after the rain,” Ulbrichová told ČTK today.
    According to the ministry, it would be sufficient to delay the demolition work until next Thursday for the rescue of the monument. Even if the property owner does not receive the ministry's decision to open administrative proceedings aimed at returning the building to the list of cultural monuments, this decision will come into legal force after a ten-day period. Starting Thursday, the owner would then have to protect the object from damage.
    However, officials admit that it is still a race against time. If the construction company meets all conditions of the demolition selection according to the head of the building authority, they cannot prevent their actions anymore. "If they comply with everything, we have no other leverage. The demolition decision is legally effective and enforceable,” Just told ČTK.
    The situation surrounding the community house escalated when the Ministry of Culture decided to return the house to the list of cultural monuments. However, the property owner has not yet received this decision, and instead, workers immediately began work early Saturday morning. They managed to remove the roof within a few hours. On Sunday afternoon, officials halted them, stating that the conditions of the demolition order had not been met. According to Přerov City Hall spokesperson Bohuslav Přidal, the construction company that started the demolition has now withdrawn from the contract, but another company has replaced it.
    The property owner, Brno-based Reinvest Corporation, which wants to build a shopping center on the site, has not yet been able to receive notice of the initiation of proceedings from the Ministry of Culture, even with police assistance. Jan Prokop, the previous representative of the company, has been contacted, but according to Přidal, he has provided proof that he no longer has the authority to represent the company.
    The workers' house was built at the beginning of the 20th century. The building became a center of party life, proletarian physical culture, cultural, theatrical, and musical components of the party in the Přerov district. It also hosted gatherings attended by leading officials of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ). The building was listed as a monument of the workers' movement with a reference to the KSČ's activities in 1963. The Brno company purchased the property from the Czech Railways, which had been the owner of the house until then.