The anchor from the 70s is a distinctive building by the Machonin couple

Prague - A selection of information about the Prague department store Kotva; Minister of Culture Antonín Staněk (ČSSD) has revoked the declaration of Kotva as a cultural monument, and the proceedings are taking place again:

- The Kotva department store in Republic Square is one of the most interesting domestic buildings from the 1970s. It was opened on February 10, 1975, and was the most modern facility of its kind in then-Czechoslovakia. Two months later, the former Máj department store on National Avenue was opened.

- The most prominent feature of Kotva, designed by the husband and wife team Věra and Vladimír Machonin, is the façade combined with a distinctive floor plan made up of hexagons. These allowed the architects to deal with the spatial limitations of the infill in the northern corner of the square, thus offering the largest possible sales area despite the relatively small plot.

- The department store, ordered by the Prior company back in the 1960s, also fits quite well into the surrounding development due to the solution used. However, opinions on Kotva are not unanimous. Architectural historian Zdeněk Lukeš, for example, ranked this building at the top of the chart of socialist architecture in the country years ago.

- Since September 2016, the heritage department of the Ministry of Culture has been considering whether Kotva should become a monument. Last year, the building was declared a monument. The proceedings took place for the second time; it was previously refused in the first submission in 2007. Minister Staněk has now revoked the declaration of Kotva as a monument because the ownership of the building changed during the proceedings that decide on the allocation of heritage protection.

- Construction work on Kotva was entrusted to the Swedish firm Sial (the Swedes also built Máj). After an archaeological survey that revealed the remains of a settlement belonging to the urban royal court, the foundations began to be built in April 1972. There was also room for a novelty - a large-capacity underground garage. The construction progressed very quickly for its time, completed in less than 30 months.

- The opening of Kotva was not to be missed by government officials, alongside customers, who were held back by soldiers from a nearby barracks (now Palladium). The powerful head of the Prague KSČ organization, Antonín Kapek, cut the ribbon, assisted by Minister of Trade Josef Trávníček. There was no room left for the architects of the building; in the 1970s, the Machonins had to be glad that they could at least exercise authorial supervision over their buildings.

- In addition to Kotva, the architects also designed other interesting buildings, not always clearly accepted by the public and experts alike. Evaluations may vary the most in the case of the Thermal hotel in Karlovy Vary. The Machonins also designed the Czechoslovak embassy building in former East Berlin and the former House of Housing Culture near the Budějovická metro station.

- In recent years, Kotva has been struggling with competition from more modern shopping centers. Its operations were also complicated in the past by disputes over shares, which became the subject of police investigations and court cases. Better times began to shine for Kotva only in March 2005 when the building was bought by the Irish company Markland, which began to significantly renovate the department store. The current owner of the building since 2016 is the Prague Property Management (PSN) of billionaire Václav Skala.