Prague is preparing a methodology for skyscrapers, Pankrác has the green light

Prague - The Prague City Council is preparing a study concerning the methodology for assessing the potential construction of high-rise buildings in the city. It is one of the materials that the Czech Republic will provide to the UNESCO committee. The committee wanted to know how the Czech state is taking care to ensure that Prague does not lose the values for which it was listed on the World Heritage List. However, the study does not address the Pankrácká Plain, for which UNESCO has appealed to the Czech Republic regarding the construction of further high-rise buildings.
    The study, whose draft version was presented today at the City Council, pertains to the future, said one of the participants of the meeting to ČTK. Attendees included representatives from the City Development Department, the National Heritage Institute, ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites), and the Old Prague Club. UNESCO will receive a progress report on the processing of the study regarding the visual integrity of the historic core of Prague, said Marcela Žižková, spokesperson for the Ministry of Culture, to ČTK.
    The study addresses, for example, how high-rise buildings constructed within the protective zone of the heritage reserve, or even beyond it, would influence the view of the historic core. Josef Štulc, chairman of the Czech ICOMOS committee, welcomes the creation of the study. He points out that if it is prepared responsibly, it could be an effective tool that establishes the rules of the game. However, if the rules are only loosely defined, it will merely be a tool to placate critics who demand such a study, he told ČTK. An information embargo is in place until the final version of the study is known.
    The UNESCO committee expressed serious concern regarding the proposed high-rise building projects in Prague at Pankrác. Last summer, it requested the Czech Republic to reconsider the impacts of the projects on the exceptional universal values of the monument, which is the historic center of Prague, by the end of February this year. The "serious concern" from UNESCO is the first of the steps taken by the committee; following this may be an inscription on the list of world heritage sites in danger. However, according to their previous statements, responsible Czech state institutions do not seem too worried about this step.
    Shortly after last year's statement from UNESCO, the Ministry of Culture closed the administrative proceedings regarding the high-rise buildings at Pankrác and confirmed the City Council's decision that authorized the buildings. The Pankrácká Plain is located within the protective zone of the heritage reserve. According to the Ministry, the collected evidence failed to prove that the planned constructions would significantly disrupt the values of the reserve to the extent that the proposal could be deemed unacceptable.
    In addition to the study on the visual integrity of the center of Prague, two other materials were prepared for UNESCO by representatives of state heritage care. However, the Ministry of Culture has not published their content.
    The first document, the Report on the State of Heritage Care in the Historic Core of Prague, is intended for discussions at the World Heritage Committee and is currently being studied by UNESCO and ICOMOS, the spokesperson stated. The report was prepared by the City Council in collaboration with the National Heritage Institute and under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture, she added.
    The second document, the Declaration on the World-Exceptional Value of Prague, is also intended for discussions at the committee and was prepared "in mutual agreement between the Ministry of Culture, the Czech ICOMOS committee, and signed by the Minister of Culture and the President of the aforementioned committee."
    UNESCO experts are expected to arrive in Prague next week. They want to find out what measures have been taken since their last mission to protect the architectural and landscape values of the largest urban heritage reserve. They also wish to meet with representatives of civic associations that criticize the Pankrácká development. The UNESCO mission will assess the state of heritage protection in Prague and prepare materials for further discussions at the committee's meeting in Quebec, Canada, later this summer.