Praha 1 leases Werich Villa to the Jan and Meda Mládek Foundation

Prague - Prague 1 will rent the Werich Villa to the Jan and Meda Mládková Foundation for 600,000 crowns including VAT per year, the contract will be for ten years with an option for another ten years. A Cultural and Social Center of Voskovec and Werich will be established in the building. The intention to rent was approved today by the representatives of the city district. The villa still awaits repairs costing 30 million crowns. Other applicants for the lease included the Post Bellum project and the Charter 77 Foundation. The decision about the villa's tenant has been made since the floods in 2002.
For the lease, 23 out of 25 councilors were in favor, one was against, and another abstained. "I believe that we could also find suitable space for the second organization in Prague 1. They do very good work," said Mayor Oldřich Lomecký (TOP 09). The winning project offered an approximately 240,000 crown higher rent than Post Bellum; according to Lomecký, the price played a minimal role in the selection. The contract also includes annual rent increases.
The foundation wants to start operating in the villa immediately after the reconstruction is completed. "We believe that some parts of the program can be implemented practically immediately. I think Werich's villa can be opened within three months (after the repairs are completed)," said the foundation's director Jan Smetana. The foundation plans to invest three to five million crowns into the interior.
The councilors today resolved that a ten-year contract with an option for another ten years is more advantageous for Prague 1 than the originally proposed twenty-year lease. Councilor Jan Votoček (TOP 09) labeled the topic as "the fetish of Werich's villa." "I don't like the foundation's project; I supported Post Bellum. There was also an interesting proposal to create a Literary House," Votoček said in the discussion among councilors. According to councilor Ivan Solil (ČSSD), this is his personal opinion and not the coalition's stance of TOP 09, ODS, and ČSSD.
Already in April 2008, Prague 1 decided that the villa would be acquired for 40 years by the Jan and Meda Mládková Foundation for a one-time rent of 23.8 million crowns and further for a symbolic crown per day. The foundation was to renovate the villa at its own expense. However, the new city hall leadership decided after the 2010 elections not to support the contract and to undertake the renovations at its own expense. Subsequently, it prepared to conclude a new contract with the foundation, but the representatives of Prague 1 refused to approve it and decided to announce a new tender.
Prague 1 conducted a survey among residents last year. Although its result is not binding, people decided the same way as the selection committee, which also recommended the Kampa Museum project. More than 9,500 people voted, including 307 from Prague 1.
The Kampa Museum project envisions a permanent exhibition, which will be dedicated not only to the Liberated Theatre and its protagonists but also to the poet Vladimír Holan. A permanent exhibition, library, and research area, a space for lectures and screenings in the attic, and areas for temporary exhibitions in the basement are to be established. The foundation also intends to utilize the garden, although a large part of it will be added to the surrounding park.
The museum expects that up to 35,000 people will visit the villa annually, of whom about a third will be schoolchildren. The building needs renovation. It was affected by the devastating floods of 2002. The flood then inundated a significant part of the house, and its consequences have not yet been removed. Only the façade and roof of the house have undergone necessary adjustments. The planned repairs will cost around 30 million crowns, and the construction site should be handed over in March or April, with the repairs lasting ten months. The surrounding Kampa park will also be renovated.
The villa is located near the Liechtenstein Palace in Kampa. It dates back to the early 17th century and was originally a tannery. Actor and playwright Jan Werich lived there with his family from 1945 until his death in 1980.