The Ghetto Museum in Terezín will be transformed according to the design of the winner of the architectural competition

Terezín - The Ghetto Museum in Terezín in the Litoměřice area will be transformed according to the design of the winner of the international architectural competition. Five selected teams will now begin working on their concepts for the new exhibition. The commission will choose the winner in the spring. The project will be realized in 2023 and 2024, during which time the museum, which is visited by 220,000 people annually, will be closed. Ivana Rapavá, head of the historical department of the Terezín Memorial, said this today to ČTK. The costs are estimated at 170 million crowns. The Ministry of Culture, which is the founder of the Terezín Memorial, will cover them.

The current exhibition in the museum is 20 years old and, according to Rapavá, does not meet the requirements for a modern exhibition. "With the new exhibition, the interior spaces of the museum will also be adjusted so that visitors can fit comfortably. Comfort should definitely increase after the reconstruction," said Rapavá. The use of previously unused spaces is planned. The museum could reopen in 2025.

A total of 22 studios from the Czech Republic, Italy, and Poland entered the international architectural competition. The jury selected five teams, each receiving 300,000 crowns. "A contract for complete architectural services, including author supervision, will be signed with the winner," said Stanislav Lada, spokesman for the Terezín Memorial. "The wish is for the visit to the Ghetto Museum to become a strong experience for visitors in every way and to stimulate their interest in history," Lada said.

Visitors to Terezín usually first head to the Small Fortress and then to the Ghetto Museum. Between 1940 and 1945, the Nazis transported over 200,000 prisoners to the Gestapo prison in the Small Fortress, the Terezín ghetto, and the Richard concentration camp in Litoměřice. Since 1947, their memory has been commemorated by the Memorial of National Suffering, later renamed the Terezín Memorial.