According to UNESCO, Prague's relationship with monuments will be a precedent

Prague - The planned controversial construction of additional high-rise buildings in Prague's Pankrác area has, according to the environmental association Arnika, international significance for UNESCO experts. Prague could set a precedent for other cities. The UNESCO mission has now arrived in Prague to assess how the Czech Republic is ensuring that Prague does not lose the values for which it was inscribed on the World Heritage List.
    Just as the Pankrác plain is a precedent for Prague, so Prague is a precedent for other cities around the world, conveyed the opinion of the head of the mission, Francesco Bandarin, by Martin Skalský from the environmental association Arnika, who participated in discussions with representatives of civic associations criticizing the construction of skyscrapers in Prague. A year ago, UNESCO expressed "serious concern" regarding the planned construction of additional high-rise buildings in Pankrác.
    According to Skalský, Prague has not yet resolved the contentious situation regarding skyscrapers. "Czech authorities are intensively working on issuing permits for the construction of two skyscrapers in Pankrác and claim that (the position) UNESCO is merely a formality," he added.
    Bandarin is the director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Such a high-ranking official participates in similar missions only exceptionally, which, according to experts, indicates the extraordinary attention the center is giving to Prague. Last year, he visited St. Petersburg, where the construction of a high-rise building is also planned.
    So far, only civic associations have been reporting on the progress of the expert mission, which will last in the metropolis until Saturday. The city and the Ministry of Culture have not yet commented.
   The participation of very high-ranking officials from the international institution in the mission may, according to experts, indicate a lack of trust in the objectivity of the report that the Czech state sent to the UNESCO committee regarding its care for the historic center of Prague inscribed on the World Heritage List.
  Representatives of civic associations at today's meeting alerted UNESCO experts to a number of ways in which, according to them, the metropolis and its buildings are being devalued. "We talked, for example, about the construction of underground garages in the city center, the destruction of the rooftop landscape by rooftop additions, the conversion of historic buildings into hotels, and other problems," Skalský stated.