Minister of Culture: The new hall at the main train station in Prague is a cultural monument

Prague – The new check-in hall of Prague's main train station, which according to a proposal published this week is set to be partially demolished, is a cultural monument. In response to a question from ČTK, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Culture, Ivana Awwadová, stated this. The proposal, which won in the architectural competition organized by the Railway Administration (SŽ), the city of Prague, and the Prague public transport company, includes plans for the front part of the hall to be removed and replaced with a space covered by a wooden structure. An online petition against the proposal has already been created.

"The Ministry of Culture has repeatedly declared that the new building of the main train station in Prague is a cultural monument," said the spokesperson. Regarding the acceptability of the proposal for transforming the station, she stated that the ministry would comment on it only in the event of any future appeals. "At this point, the Ministry of Culture cannot preemptively predict possible positions on this matter," she communicated.

The architectural protection particularly applies to the Art Nouveau Fant's building of the station; however, according to the ministry, the new check-in hall from the 1970s is not an independent structure but an extension, so the architectural protection also applies to it.

In the international competition for the transformation of the new hall, the adjacent Vrchlického Gardens, and the design of the planned tram stop in front of the station, the proposal from the Copenhagen studio Henning Larsen Architects was successful. The dominant element of the proposal is a large wooden structure that is intended to arch over the new check-in hall towards the Vrchlického Gardens. At the same time, a large part of the hall is to disappear, while the section located under the main road will be preserved. The new space in front of the station will connect with the level of the main road via a wide staircase, which will lead to a new crossing over the busy road to Fant's building.

Following its publication, the proposal faced criticism on social media, and an online petition against it has already garnered support from over 800 people. The petitioners demand the preservation of the hall, designed by architects Jan Bočan, Josef Danda, Alena Šrámková, Jan Šrámek, and Julie Trnková, which they claim is a significant representative of 1970s and 1980s architecture. According to them, the roof structure will obscure Fant's building, and the proposal also plans to eliminate the parking lot on the building's roof without replacement. "Prague deserves an entrance gate that enhances its architectural heritage, not one that denies it," stated the petitioners.

The subject of the architectural competition, which began last May, was a comprehensive solution for the appearance of the station and its surroundings. The competing teams were tasked with designing the new check-in hall, which is under the responsibility of SŽ. For the city hall, they addressed the modifications of Vrchlického Gardens and for the Prague public transport company, the tram line that will run from the National Museum to Wilson and Washington streets towards the check-in hall, and then along Opletalova Street to Bolzanova Street. The winning studio will now develop its proposal into an architectural study, which the public will have the opportunity to comment on.

The second place in the competition was taken by a team from the Barcelona studios Miralles Tagliabue EMBT and OCA architects, while the third place went to a consortium of the Czech studio re:architekti, the Italian atelier baukuh studio associato, and the Italian studio Yellow Office. The proposal from the third team included the preservation of the hall without major interventions.