The reconstruction of the Czech embassy in London will conclude with a ceremonial opening

London - The ceremonial reopening awaits the Czech Embassy in London this evening after a two-year renovation. The building on Kensington Palace Gardens, considered the most expensive address in Britain, will transform into a gallery showcasing contemporary Czech artists' work for a few hours, with a concert and a theater performance also on the agenda. The embassy has a new interior and technical elements that did not meet the requirements of the diplomatic mission.

"The result of the renovation, which lasted almost two years, is a fresh, rejuvenated face of the embassy building that highlights the details," wrote Czech Ambassador to London Libor Sečka in his assessment. According to him, the building now appears elegant and very positive. The facade of the embassy, due to its heritage status, has not undergone significant changes and has mainly been cleaned as part of the reconstruction.

The original brutalist style was imparted to the complex at the corner of Kensington Palace Gardens and Bayswater Road by architect Jan Šrámek and his collaborators Jan Bočan and Karel Štěpánský. The construction work was completed in 1970, and a year later, the then Czechoslovak Embassy received the most prestigious British award from the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) for the best building created in Britain by foreign architects.

After the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, the original embassy building was assigned to Slovakia, while Czech staff occupied the spaces previously designated for staff apartments, and the commercial and consular sections. Two decades later, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that the building was in poor technical condition and did not meet the needs and requirements of the department.

The renovation began in September 2015 with the aim, among other things, of creating new divisions, as the restored building will also host the offices of the Czech Centre and the agencies CzechTourism, CzechInvest, and CzechTrade in addition to the diplomatic mission. At the same time, it was necessary to modernize engineering networks and electrical installations; the embassy is expected to be less energy-consuming and to have a better operational system.

During the ceremonial reopening, invited guests will be able to enter not only the representative areas but also the reconstructed underground cinema. In addition to a showcase of contemporary Czech art, the evening's program will feature the performance of world-renowned bartender Pavel Tvaroh and a light show highlighting the building's architectural elements.