Club For Old Prague Protests against the Intended Reconstruction of Máj

Prague - The Club for Old Prague is protesting against the planned reconstruction of the Máj department store in Prague on Národní Street, which is a cultural monument. The reconstruction is criticized in an open letter sent to the Minister of Culture Lubomír Zaorálek (Social Democrats) and the Prague Mayor Zdeněk Hřib (Pirates). According to the club, the proposed adjustments to the building from the 1970s fundamentally change the shape of the building and improperly deform the monument. Prague and the Ministry of Culture's response is being sought by ČTK.

In the letter, provided to ČTK by architectural historian and club member Rostislav Švácha, the authors refer to a decision by the municipal monument care department from April 6 to allow the reconstruction of Máj. The club is requesting that the ministry cancel this decision by the municipal monument department. It calls on the Prague City Council to ensure that the director of this monument care department is "removed from his position and replaced by a more competent expert."

"This department store, the work of the famous Liberec studio Sial from 1972 to 1975, was declared a cultural monument by the Ministry of Culture in October 2006. The proposed reconstruction, approved by the municipal department, fundamentally alters the shape of this building towards Spálená Street, thus improperly deforming this monument," states the Club for Old Prague.

The height of the building is to be aligned on the side towards Spálená Street with the neighboring shopping center Quadrio, thus the building will lose its unique cascading silhouette, according to the club, which considers such a change to the monumentally protected building entirely unacceptable. By raising the facade of the Máj building to the height of the Quadrio center, the club believes that a street front of monstrous dimensions will emerge on this side of Spálená Street, without any parallel in the historic core of Prague and certainly not belonging in the area of the Prague monument reservation.

Last year, the owner of the department store became the development company Amádeus Real. According to the owner, Máj urgently needs a replacement for outdated technologies. Máj Národní, which belongs to the Amádeus Real group and is responsible for the project of the department store, informed ČTK today that it disagrees with the club's opinion.

"The entire process of reconstruction and completion of the Máj department store is led by the original authors of the building design - Martin Rajniš and Johnny Eisler. The living authors of the building have the opportunity to fulfill their authorial visions without the compromises they were forced to make under the previous regime," stated Karel Samec, media representative of Amádeus Real.

He noted that individual variants and partial solutions for the reconstruction and completion have been repeatedly consulted with the monument care department, as well as with several experts in the field of monument care and urbanism, and the Institute of Planning and Development of the City of Prague reviewed the matter. "Individual suggestions were taken into account in the preparation of the study," he added. The binding opinion of the Monument Care Department very precisely defines what is subject to monument protection of the Máj department store building and also sets a number of conditions that must be fulfilled during the planned reconstruction and completion.

The director of the Prague branch of the National Heritage Institute (NPÚ) Ondřej Šefců previously told ČTK that if the owner of the Máj department store wants to successfully discuss the reconstruction project, it is absolutely necessary for the proposal to respect the heritage values that allowed this object to be declared a monument. A significant component of these values is the atypical facades, particularly the north facade facing Národní Street.