<Praha 10 wants to partially restore the Waldes Museum of Switches.

Prague - Prague 10 has completed a study for the further use of the former Waldes Museum on Moskevská Street, part of which now hosts exhibitions. The city hall leadership wants to partially return the original collections of buttons and other clothing fasteners to it. This was stated by the first deputy mayor of the district, Tomáš Pek (TOP 09). The museum was founded in 1916 by the inventor of the patent button, Jindřich Waldes, and operated in the premises between 1918 and 1948. The shape of the project may still be influenced by a change in the leadership of the tenth district.

On the first floor of the building at Svatopluka Čecha Square, the city hall currently operates Gallery Deset. "Above that, on the next floor, there is still the remaining space of the Waldes Museum, where there are also small remnants of the original equipment," said Deputy Mayor Pek. He added that the goal of the planned project is to create a museum on the first floor along with exhibition spaces, and to build a depository for some items from Čapek's villa on the second floor, which the city hall of Prague 10 also owns.

The museum is expected to have a permanent exhibition that would recall the original Waldes Museum of buttons and clothing fasteners. "We are collaborating with the jewelry museum in Jablonec, where the original collection ended up. They won't give it to us, but they might lend us part of it," Pek explained, adding that they have a similar agreement pre-negotiated with the Prague Applied Arts Museum.

The city hall commissioned a study for the further use of the museum, which has already been approved by the district council. "A competition will now be announced for the transformation of the space. The Department of Culture has also been tasked with preparing how it will be operated," the deputy mayor added.

The next steps may be influenced by a change in the city hall leadership, and it is currently unclear who will lead Prague 10. However, according to Pek, it seems likely that whoever it is will want to repair the former museum.

Since mid-2016, a coalition of TOP 09, CSSD, ODS, Greens, independents, and two unaffiliated councilors under the leadership of Mayor Vladimír Novák (CSSD) has ruled in Prague 10. This year's municipal elections in the district were won by the coalition Vlasta (KDU-ČSL, STAN, Desítka for the locals and independents). The Pirates came in second, ODS third, ANO fourth, TOP 09 fifth, and the Mayors for Prague sixth.