Experts again want the house on Wenceslas Square to be a monument

Prague - Art historians have once again submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Culture (MK) for the building at the corner of Wenceslas Square and Opletalova Street to be declared a cultural monument. The owner wants to demolish the building and construct a new one in its place. Last year, his plan already sparked disapproval from some heritage conservation experts, and there were even protests against the project.
    MK has dealt with the proposal from the Art Historical Society twice. The first time, it did not initiate proceedings, and the second time in September, it decided that the building would not be designated a monument. Culture Minister Alena Hanáková (TOP 09 and STAN) subsequently instructed her review commission to reassess this decision. Today’s submitted proposal likely does not affect the owner of the building – due to the initiation of the review process by the commission, the building is still protected as if it had been declared a monument.
    Whether the building will be demolished and a new one constructed is also related to the fate of the remains of the former Stock Printing House on Opletalova Street, of which only a section of the façade remains. The property now also belongs to the owner of the corner building. The previous owner demolished the printing house, even though it was a protected monument at that time. Just a few steps from Wenceslas Square, a plot overgrown with grass and bushes has been hidden behind the remnants of the façade for six years.
    "In view of the fundamental contradiction between the positive assessment of the building's qualities by the Ministry of Culture and the completely vague final justification (...) the Art Historical Society finds it necessary to repeatedly submit a proposal for the building to be declared a cultural monument," states the proposal that CTK has access to. The argumentation of the MK in the decision is also consistent with the original justification of the UHS proposal.
    The heritage department of the MK decided not to declare the building a monument, despite acknowledging its undeniable qualities and its important place in the Prague Monument Reservation in its justification. However, they did not declare the building a monument because they did not want "the consequences of serious legal flaws" in the opinions of the city hall's heritage experts to "heal the overvaluation of the qualities of the building in question."
    The heritage department of the city hall allowed the building to be demolished last year. Although the heritage experts from the Ministry of Culture found the city hall's position to be unlawful and annulled it, this was only after the legal deadline. The then-Minister of Culture Jiří Besser (TOP 09 and STAN) therefore annulled this decision of his heritage experts, as the building owner had relied on the city hall's decision for six months, and its annulment by the ministry could allegedly jeopardize his investment.
    Only after that did proposals to declare the building a monument come in. Now, the review commission must assess whether the decision by the office not to declare the building a cultural monument was unlawful. The Minister also wants to know whether the public interest in the protection of cultural heritage could have been compromised.