The ministry has declared the Žižkov station a cultural monument for the third time

Prague - The Ministry of Culture has declared a part of the Žižkov freight station a cultural monument for the third time. Czech Railways previously appealed this decision twice. The current decision of the office is not yet final; a party involved in the proceedings can file an appeal against it within 15 days, the ministry states on its website. The ministry issued the decision on Thursday. Czech Railways is considering filing an appeal.
     The first decision in the matter was made in December 2010, and the second this February. Czech Railways filed an appeal against them, leading the appeal commission of the minister to examine the case. It returned the case to the monument department of the ministry because, in its view, the submitted expert opinions did not completely address the issue at hand. For example, they lacked an evaluation of the building's usability. The monument department has now declared the part of the station a monument again.
     It is still unclear whether Czech Railways will appeal the latest decision again. "We are waiting for it to be delivered to us in writing, we will study it in detail, and then we will agree on further steps," said the spokesman for the national carrier, Radek Joklík, to ČTK.
     The cultural monument should be the main building of the station, which consists of three wings - an administrative wing along Želivského Street and two loading dock wings. "It is an exceptionally high-quality and very well-preserved example of a functionalist building of technical purpose, which demonstrates the high technical and architectural sophistication of industrial buildings in the territory of what was then Czechoslovakia," states the ministry.
     The building from the 1930s was considered by experts to be the most modern of its kind in Europe, both technologically and architecturally. It especially deserves recognition for the urban composition of the building in a U-shaped floor plan, the practical solution of the interior layout, and the quality of the architectural treatment of the outer shell and its details. The refined sense of the creators for quality detail is also evident in the interior spaces, including the preserved elements of the technological equipment.
     The owner of the station is Czech Railways. Together with Sekyra Group, they planned to build a new neighborhood on the site of the station, but they have abandoned this plan; nevertheless, they have appealed against the declaration of the building as a cultural monument. According to their earlier statement, this is to ensure that those who may reconstruct the buildings are not limited by the monument protection of the object.
     The municipal authority of Prague 3, in its current composition, does not view monument protection as an obstacle to the development of the area, and according to Deputy Mayor Matěj Stropnický, the building could potentially be used in the future as a multipurpose cultural center.
     The National Film Archive would like to use the area for its future headquarters, as it currently has emergency and rented spaces in several locations in Prague. However, the archive would only need the main building, as for the use of other extensive storage spaces, it would have to partner with another cultural institution to share the area.