Prague - The Ministry of Culture will not reopen the proceedings regarding the demolition of the building on the corner of Prague's Wenceslas Square and Opletalova Street. The reason is procedural; administrative law does not allow it, said ministry spokesman Stanislav Brunclík to reporters today. Minister of Culture Jiří Besser made this decision based on the recommendation of the appeals committee. Some time ago, a group of 13 experts in architecture and art history requested the reopening of the proceedings. "At this moment, it is purely a legal issue and not a matter of substance, and it is certainly not about a potential demolition. The appeals committee merely assessed whether it is possible to reopen the proceedings in this matter and at this time based on the administrative law of the Czech Republic. We came to a clear conclusion that it is not possible at this time," said the chairman of the appeals committee, Jan Hubka. Besser previously canceled the ministry's decision, which had overturned the position of the Prague City Hall, based on the recommendation of the appeals committee. This allowed for the demolition of the building within the heritage preservation zone. The minister's decision sparked a strong wave of discontent among some experts and the public. Thirteen professors opposed it, stating that the building is architecturally and urbanistically valuable. They therefore requested the reopening of the proceedings. Whether the building will actually be demolished will be decided by the construction office of Prague 1. Its head, Oldřich Dajbych, said last week that if the builder submits all the necessary documents, the office must approve the demolition. According to Brunclík, after a positive stance on the demolition, people who disagree with the demolition can appeal to the ministry again. An eight-story building with shops and offices is to be built on the site of the corner building. The investor is Flow East, and the construction is expected to cost around one billion crowns.
The English translation is powered by AI tool. Switch to Czech to view the original text source.