The archive in Příbram will not be repaired, most likely a new one will be built

Prague - The building of the district archive in Příbram, which has faced structural issues, will not be repaired. The archive's management is exploring the possibility of new construction, either on the adjacent plot or completely elsewhere. CTK was informed today by the director of the archive, Daniel Doležal.

Problems with the technical condition of the building constructed in 1997 began to manifest this year. The archive's management commissioned a structural survey, which revealed that the foundation slab is not capable of bearing such a heavy load in the long term. Therefore, half of the documents had to be relocated. The solution was to be a major renovation, which was ultimately abandoned in favor of seeking another solution. "We have abandoned the intention to renovate the existing building because this path would essentially lead to nothing," believes Doležal.

Building a new structure on the adjacent plot is under consideration, and the archive's management will have a geological survey conducted to determine if this is feasible. In such a case, the existing building would likely still be used, although according to Doležal, only for light-load operations. Another option is to construct a large repository at a different location in the region, and theoretically, the archive could vacate the current building. According to Doležal, it cannot be used for the purposes for which it was built. "We are basically using it at 50 or 40 percent," he said.

According to the archive director, the problems were likely caused by a mistake in the preparation of the construction and the project, not in its execution. "So far, it is in a position of investigation from a legal standpoint to see if any responsibility can be pursued," he stated. He sees the problem as stemming from the fact that almost 20 years have passed since the construction. "I don't want to dismiss it; we are doing everything for it, but at this moment, we still have not found any evidence that could work in our favor," he added. The author of the architectural solution, Karel Cvrček, said today to CTK that he had not seen the situation on site and would need more information. According to reports he has received from the archive management, the foundation slab is cracking. He believes the fault may lie on several sides and may have also arisen from overloading the construction. "But in any case, I will not be the one at fault," he noted.

The archive had to relocate approximately two and a half kilometers of documents to temporary facilities and temporarily close the reading room or limit the fulfillment of research requests. According to Doležal, the reading room will reopen on December 1, and movement within the building is safe after it has been lightened. Given that half of the funds are now in storage outside Příbram, the preparation period for archival materials for study may extend up to three weeks.