South Bohemia has three new cultural monuments, a department store, and a villa

České Budějovice - The South Bohemia region has three new cultural monuments. These are the Brouk and Babka department store in České Budějovice, the villa of Theodor Fiala in Blatná in the Strakonice area, and a burgess house in Slavonice in the Jindřichův Hradec area. This was decided by the Ministry of Culture (MK). The status for the Blatná villa was granted by the ministry earlier, but the city appealed. There are about 5,400 cultural monuments in South Bohemia. Jana Štorková from the National Heritage Institute (NPÚ) told ČTK today. The city is bothered that the building is in poor physical and technical condition. However, the city will not file a second appeal against the MK decision, said deputy mayor Pavel Ounický (ČSSD) to ČTK today.

According to heritage experts, the status of a cultural monument provides a better chance to obtain funding for restoration from grants and guarantees owners free assistance from the NPÚ. "The proposal (for declaring it a cultural monument) for the villa in Blatná has been on the table since 2014, the Ministry of Culture had already issued a declaration decree once, and the city appealed against it, which returned through the appeals process back to the Ministry of Culture. It then went back into its own commission. Now the villa has become a cultural monument, and the city has raised no objections," said Štorková.

The Theodor Fiala villa on the Vinice hill, also known as Krčkovna, dates back to 1905 and was designed by architect Karel Fiala. According to the NPÚ, it is interesting because it has preserved a recreational restaurant from the early 20th century with utility amenities. Such buildings are rare in South Bohemia, Štorková noted. A similar structure is the villa in Rudolfov near Jindřichův Hradec, where the writer Karel Čapek lived while writing the novel Krakatit. Fiala (1862-1939) also participated in the restoration of St. Vitus Cathedral in the 1920s.

The villa is owned by the city. According to the city council, the building is in very poor condition, in places even in an emergency state, and restoration would mean replacing the roof, floors, and plaster.

"The uninsulated perimeter wall is heavily damp," Ounický noted. There are no installations for water, electricity, or connections to the sewage system. Last year, city heritage experts also disagreed with the MK proposal. The idea that the villa could become a tourist destination, according to the city council, is misleading because the house is far from the center and located on sloping terrain.

According to Štorková, the city wants to sell the villa. Ounický said that selling is one option, another is renting it to local associations and organizations, while another variant is that the city could start repairing the villa. The matter is now being discussed by the property committee and the city development committee, the deputy mayor said.

The Brouk and Babka department store, built in 1935, is a functionalist building that, thanks to its preserved exterior and interior, surpasses South Bohemian standards according to the NPÚ. Valuable features include the stone staircase with a metal railing and marble wall cladding. The building was designed by architect Karel Chochola. Currently, there is a clothing store and a bar in the property, with the rest of the five-story building housing offices. Zdeněk Kult, the owner of the building, previously told ČTK that in 1935, it was the largest department store in South Bohemia with 935 square meters of retail space.

House no. 532 in the Upper Square in Slavonice demonstrates, according to heritage experts, the natural architectural development of a burgher house since the 16th century. The valuable features include the facade with sgraffito decoration resembling writing, the archway, vaulted cellars, and the preserved vaulted utility buildings in the yard.