The Ministry of Culture wants to build an office for 20 million

Prague - Minister of Culture Václav Jehlička plans to establish an information center in the building of his office. It is set to be located in the courtyard of the Nostický Palace, and its goal, according to officials, is to "bring the ministry's agenda as close to the citizen as possible." This information is reported in today's edition of the daily Mladá fronta Dnes (MfD). The ministry states on its website that on Tuesday it will announce a public procurement for the construction according to the design by Josef Pleskot.
According to some experts, however, the planned building is completely unnecessary - if the ministry wants to better inform citizens, they believe it can utilize the internet.
The creation of the new information center was recently criticized by former Minister of Culture and MP Vítězslav Jandák. He indicated that the construction will cost 28 million crowns. According to him, the money could be used for the repair of monuments. On the contrary, he believes that the planned intervention will harm the Nostický Palace.
"The construction was approved by the heritage protection authorities. The proposals have been consulted with them from the very beginning, additionally in the phase of simplified studies. Their agreement is part of the documentation for the ongoing construction proceedings,” says the ministry.
The cost of the public procurement, according to the ministry, will not exceed 15 million crowns. The price for all design works is below the established threshold of the Public Procurement Act. The complete execution of architectural works will be carried out for 1.8 million crowns without VAT, the ministry states.
MfD writes that Minister Jehlička personally knows Pleskot. "The Ministry of Culture approached architect Josef Pleskot as a renowned expert, who has demonstrated high professionalism and a sensitive approach to the revitalization of historical objects in many implementations," states the ministry. The architect reportedly only met the minister personally while working on the mentioned project.
Pleskot proposed covering the second courtyard of the palace, the so-called farmyard, with a lightweight inserted structure made of aluminum profiles and transparent lightweight foil. The visualization of the roofing can be seen on the ministry's website www.mkcr.cz.