Masaryk Cultural House in Mělník declared a cultural monument

The Ministry of Culture decided on July 16, 2008, to declare the Masaryk Cultural House in Mělník a state-protected cultural monument. After more than five years of effort from heritage conservation workers, this highly valued functionalist building has thus made it onto the prestigious list of protected cultural heritage in our country. At the same time, the high-quality statue of the liberator president T. G. Masaryk by Vincenc Makovský (bronze casting) and the surrounding “Tykal's” gardens were also included in the heritage protection.
The cultural house is the work of local architects Josef Širce Jr., Bedřich Zeman, and Jan B. Zelený. It was built in 1936 as a multipurpose cultural venue for the Mělník public and also as a memorial to fallen Mělník citizens in the Great War.
The MKD significantly exceeds the architectural quality of common contemporary functionalist work. In addition to its architecture, the extensive nature of the multipurpose building is quite unusual for a first-republic town the size of Mělník.
Last year, the entrance portico at MKD was repaired, unsuitable metal entrance doors were replaced with new wooden ones that closely resemble the originals from the time of the building's creation. Additionally, the travertine cladding was replaced with new, and there was also a large-scale replacement of windows in the building itself. In the next phase of the restoration of this exceptional cultural venue, the owner of the building (the city of Mělník) and heritage conservation are interested in focusing on the roof repair and complete restoration of the façade. Thanks to the declaration of MKD as a cultural monument, it is possible to finance these construction works from grant funds of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic and the Central Bohemian Region.