Galerist Smolák no longer wants to build Libeskind's Dalineum in Prague

Prague - Four years will pass this spring since the world-renowned American architect of Polish origin, Daniel Libeskind, presented his design for a modern art museum in Prague. The project's initiator, art dealer Miroslav Smolák, initially wanted to place the museum in Strahov, later a site by the Vltava River was considered, but for several years now, nothing has been heard about his intentions. Smolák no longer counts on Prague; he plans to build the museum in another European metropolis. However, he keeps the location a secret.
Although discussions began after the design was made public about whether it is possible to place it in the Prague Heritage Reserve, and even about the feasibility of its realization, by moving plans outside the Czech Republic, Prague loses any potential contribution to contemporary architecture - even if the building were to stand anywhere else. After Wednesday's meeting regarding the new National Library building, it is still unclear whether there will be a structure by another famous architect, Jan Kaplický, in the city. A year ago, the city was much closer to that possibility. Kaplický also mentioned on Wednesday that the building, whose design won in an international architectural competition, could be located outside Prague and even outside the Czech Republic.
The multifunctional structure, for which Smolák is now using the name Dalineum, was allegedly discussed at the town hall in early February this year in "one beautiful European metropolis". He was negotiating with city representatives about the most suitable building plot, and the one on the riverbank in the city center was chosen. However, the art dealer does not want to disclose to the public which city it is. "I will do so when I have the building permit in my hand," he told ČTK.
While Kaplický's building, in line with his work, has the form of something organic and, according to the author, has much in common with historical Prague architecture, Libeskind's design is angular and geometric, even though it does not take the shape of a regular body. "Although it is a complicated and complex building, it only relies on simple geometric shapes and lines. The fundamental idea is the transformation of a circle into a square and then back into a circle, of course, in space. No floor has the same layout,” states the author about the museum.
Libeskind personally presented the museum design in Prague in May 2004. At that time, it was stated that the building could stand by the end of the year 2007 in the Old Town at the end of Revoluční Street, where there is currently an empty space and a park. Right on the spot, however, heritage protectors stated that they would prefer to see a large building elsewhere.
The seven-story building is expected to include, in addition to a permanent exhibition of works by Salvador Dalí, which Smolák wants to construct with foreign partners, also a theater with several halls, a cinema, large exhibition halls for holding fairs and exhibitions in the style of a kunsthalle, small private galleries, several restaurants, office spaces, and a hotel.
During the Prague presentation of the museum, art historians were concerned about what the author would fill the Dalí exhibition with. Major surrealist works by Dalí are carefully guarded by world museums and galleries. Graphics from his later period are indeed easily accessible, but their quality and the author's contribution are questionable. Smolák countered that he is negotiating with representatives of the Dalí Museum in Spain about lending works. "They have 3,500 Dalí works in storage and would like to exhibit them," he said at the time. According to him, the museum should contain works from various periods of Dalí's oeuvre.
Libeskind has experience with museum-type buildings - the Jewish Museum in Berlin, opened in 2001, made him famous. He also won the competition for the reconstruction of the site where the World Trade Center in New York stood, destroyed in 2001. However, the winning proposal underwent a number of changes, and Libeskind no longer claims it.