Stanislav Bechyně - builder of the Lucerna

Prague - The Lucerna Palace in Prague, the ironworks in Hrádek near Rokycany, several proposals for bridging the Nusle Valley in Prague, the original arch bridge in Hořepník in the Pelhřimov region, the bridge over Chrudimka in Pardubice, the bridge over Váh in Komárno, and the highway bridge near Senohraby - all of these were contributed to by the construction engineer and founder of Czechoslovak concrete construction, Stanislav Bechyně. A longtime professor at the Czech Technical University, Bechyně was born 120 years ago on July 20, 1887.
    "His work was especially characterized by original solutions in construction," says Milan Pilař, the deputy director of the Secondary Vocational School of Civil Engineering in Havlíčkův Brod, which has borne the name Stanislav Bechyně since 1979.
    In the construction industry at the beginning of the 20th century, a new material appeared - concrete. It was used for building skeletons, columns, and entire bridge structures. And it was to concrete construction that the later academician Stanislav Bechyně dedicated his entire life.
    In 1910, the then twenty-three-year-old native of Přibyslav in Havlíčkův Brod completed his studies at the Czech Technical University in Prague and immediately after graduation began working for the newly founded company of Karel Skorkovský, focused primarily on the construction of concrete structures.
    According to his design, columns made of wound cast iron and mushroom ceilings were used for the first time in what was then Austria-Hungary during the construction of a car factory in Prague-Libeň. He also significantly influenced bridge construction with the realization of an arch bridge structure with a suspended deck and tie in 1913 in Hořepník, Pelhřimov region.
    His greatest construction success, however, was the combination of columns and beams into frame structures, which Bechyně realized during the construction of the Lucerna Palace in Prague in 1919. It is also remarkable that the load-bearing walls, stairs, chimneys, and railings were made entirely of concrete. The Lucerna building thus became the first structure in Czechoslovakia to use no load-bearing elements made of bricks or wood.
    In 1919, Bechyně proposed one of the first bridges to span the Nusle Valley in Prague using a reinforced concrete bridge, and in 1938 he proposed a lightweight concrete structure. However, construction was halted by World War II, and neither was Bechyně's later proposal from 1950 for a reinforced concrete bridge with three arches, developed after the war in collaboration with Bohumír Kozák, realized.
    In 1920, Bechyně became a full professor (then the youngest) of statics and dynamics at the Czech Technical University, where he worked until 1958.
    His works also include the concrete structure of the ironworks in Hrádek near Rokycany, the cylindrical shell structures of warehouses in Kostelec nad Labem, industrial buildings of the cement plant in Králův Dvůr, hangars in Letňany and Karlovy Vary, steelworks in Kladno, and the architecturally valued pavilion of the Prague Zoo.
    However, his most famous are his bridge structures, foremost among them the arched bridge in Pardubice from 1935 and the bridge over Váh in Komárno from 1955. This bridge, with a flat arch spanning 112.5 meters, earned him international recognition. Bechyně also completed the construction of the largest arched highway bridge near Senohraby, which was finished in 1950.
    Bechyně was also involved in rescue work on many endangered Czech monuments. Examples include the relocation of the rotunda of St. Mary Magdalene near Čechův Bridge in Prague, the reconstruction of the Agnes Monastery, the adjustment of the bridge deck on Charles Bridge, and the relocation of the Gothic church in Most.
    Stanislav Bechyně wrote several important works, some of which have been translated into many languages. All of this brought him among the first Czechoslovak academics after the war. As a professor, he also lectured at the Czech Technical University. He was awarded many orders and prizes, became a member of numerous foreign scientific institutions, and received a state prize. He retired in 1958.
    Bechyně, who had a personal interest in botany, died on October 15, 1973, at the age of 86. He is buried in Přibyslav, where a square in the city center is also named after him.