Czech Chamber of Architects in memoriam will honor Karel Prager

Karel Prager, photo: prostor-ad.cz

Prague - The Czech Chamber of Architects (ČKA) has decided to award the ČKA Tribute 2011 in memoriam to architect Karel Prager, who is the author of the Federal Assembly building in Prague and the New Stage of the National Theatre (ND). The chamber characterized Prager as the "most prominent figure in Czech architecture of the second half of the 20th century". The ceremonial event will take place in the spring of next year. ČTK was informed about this by ČKA spokesperson Markéta Pražanová.
    The tribute is awarded each year to significant individuals in the field who have made a mark in the modern history of Czech architecture. This year, a five-member expert jury evaluated a total of 17 nominated individuals. The award ultimately goes to an author whose work still divides public opinion into admirers and opponents. However, he mainly receives recognition in professional circles. "ČKA is convinced that it honors an architect who, despite the adversities of historical times and all the difficulties and transience of everyday interests, left behind not only quality and extensive, but also highly inspiring and intellectually provocative architectural and urban works," quotes the decision of the expert jury Pražanová. According to architects, Prager's realizations rank among the most daring and interesting that were created in the Czech Republic in the 1960s and 1970s.
    Karel Prager was born in 1923 in Kroměříž. He graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at the Czech Technical University in Prague, and it is in the Czech capital that his most famous buildings stand. One of the most recognized is undoubtedly the building of the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry in Břevnov, which was declared a cultural monument in 2000. However, other of his Prague realizations are not so unambiguously accepted, whether it concerns the New Stage of the ND, the Komerční banka in Smíchov in the shape of a truncated pyramid, or the building of the former Federal Assembly, which was also declared a cultural monument by the Ministry of Culture.
    Prager passed away at the age of 77 on May 31, 2001. Shortly before his death, he received the Award of the Municipalities of Architects for his lifetime achievement.