The architects will present details of the reconstruction of the Praha - Bubny station

Prague - Architects from the ARN studio and representatives of the Bubny Memory and Dialogue Center (CPDB) will present details about the reconstruction of the Prague - Bubny train station into a place commemorating the victims of the Holocaust on Monday, May 12. The railway administration intends to start work on the project in the summer, with completion expected in two years. Between 1941 and 1945, around 50,000 people, primarily Jews, passed through this site during transport to Theresienstadt and concentration and extermination camps. The center also aims to inform the public about its program concept and new visual style, said its director, Pavlína Šulcová, to ČTK.

Last September, the Ministry of Culture appointed Šulcová as the director of its contribution organization Memorial of Silence, replacing its founder, Pavel Štingl. The institution was also renamed to the Bubny Memory and Dialogue Center.

Following the reconstruction of the Bubny train station according to the design by the Hradec Králové studio ARN, the Railway Administration expects modern spaces suitable for hosting exhibitions and other events. The building will include a café and plans to revitalize the nearby publicly accessible area adjacent to the residential blocks of Holešovice and Malý Berlín. The space is intended to connect the past with the present. The memorial, created through the reconstruction of the authentic train station building, is meant to highlight the silence that remains after the victims of the Holocaust who passed through the station. The building is designed to symbolize silence, which will be emphasized by the blinded windows that cannot be looked through. The plastic of Aleš Veselý, titled The Gate of Irretrievability, will continue to dominate the site, representing a railway track with sleepers raised to the sky.

"In front of the main entrance, which can be symbolically perceived as the mouth of the house, there is an erected stele that covers it, like a hand placed in front of the mouth to not speak. The mass breaks upward, like hope. The addition of the new floor on the original walls of the station stops being silent. It opens upwards. Light comes from above," the architects described their intention on the studio's website.

The architects will present their design on May 12 at the Mama Shelter hotel in Holešovice, formerly Parkhotel, as part of the Open House Prague festival. Registration is required here. During the festival weekend of May 17 and 18, guided tours with guides will take place in the building of the former Bubny train station, Šulcová added.

The Railway Administration began looking for contractors for the reconstruction and renovation costing 215 million crowns excluding VAT in March. They wish to start the renovation of the building in the summer and complete it in two years. The government allocated funds for the project in February.

Train services to the station ceased at the beginning of 2023 when demolition began for the modernization of the track to Kladno. Trains had been running here continuously since 1868, and the current building dates back to 1923. In the summer, the Railway Administration plans to open a completely new and larger Prague - Bubny train station located near the Negrelli Viaduct.