People in Hradec are once again organizing a petition against the demolition of the villa Anička

Hradec Králové - The civic association of heritage protectors in Eastern Bohemia today began collecting signatures for a second petition for the preservation of the Art Nouveau villa Anička in the center of Hradec Králové. This is in response to the June decision of the Municipal Court in Prague, which annulled the decision of the Minister of Culture regarding the declaration of the villa as a cultural monument. The owner of the villa, the Generali insurance company, plans to demolish the villa and build a modern customer center in its place.
Signatures for the petition were collected today directly in front of the villa Anička by member of the civic association Zbyněk Cabicar. "With this petition, we want the Ministry of Culture to once again recognize the villa as a cultural monument. Urbanistically, this century-old villa belongs here," he said. He noted that the association aims to collect up to twice as many signatures for the second petition as for the first one, which was signed by about 12,000 people.
The declaration of the villa as a cultural monument was challenged in court by the Generali insurance company. According to the court, the ministry did not sufficiently justify its decision. The ministry may appeal the court's ruling and can also restart the entire process of declaring the villa a cultural monument.
"No decision has yet been made regarding the ministry's next steps," said Petra Ulbrichová, head of the cultural heritage protection department of the ministry, to ČTK today. However, according to her, the ministry still believes that the villa Anička has such value that it should be a cultural monument. Ulbrichová reminded that the court's verdict in no way means that the property owner could start demolishing the villa.
According to board member Roman Koch, the Generali insurance company is considering the possibility of dismantling and relocating the villa to another site in Hradec Králové as a compromise solution. "I believe it will be easier to discuss relocating the building when it is not a monument," Koch said to ČTK and Czech Television today.
The estimated cost of relocating the villa, according to Koch, is around 30 million crowns. In addition to the villa Anička, the insurance company would like to demolish and replace a villa it owns on the opposite side of the street. The total project costs, according to initial calculations, exceed 200 million crowns. So far, the insurance company has spent tens of millions of crowns on the project.
The villa Anička is one of the architectural symbols of the city. In 2007, the city council expressed its consent to its demolition. At the same time, public opposition to the demolition rose in the city.