Registration is required for the tour and farewell to Invalidovna before reconstruction

Prague – The National Heritage Institute (NPÚ) will open the Prague baroque Invalidovna for the last time on Saturday, August 22, before handing it over to builders for reconstruction at a cost of 2.15 billion crowns. Interested parties must register in advance for the approximately 25-minute guided tour during the open house. Admission is free, and tours of the interiors will take place between 10:00 and 16:00. CTK was informed about this by NPÚ spokesperson Blanka Černá. Some tour times have already been booked today in the reservation system.

The NPÚ open house is seen as an opportunity to say goodbye to this exceptional monument in its current form and to remind visitors of its story. The farewell will officially begin at 09:50 with a ceremonial arrival of soldiers. They will then lay flowers at the statue of Count Peter Strozzi, the founder of the foundation that was behind the establishment of the Invalidovna. A ceremonial salute will sound from historical rifles. Soldiers in the courtyard will demonstrate period uniforms and equipment throughout the day, reminding everyone of the history of a location that has been associated with the care of war veterans for centuries.

Tours starting at 10:00 will depart with guides every 15 minutes, with the last one at 16:00. The program will conclude at 17:00 with a symbolic locking of the Invalidovna. "The soldiers will ceremoniously close the main entrance, and the historic building will bid farewell to the public for the duration of the restoration," Černá stated.

The reconstruction will commence with a ceremony on Wednesday, August 26. At the beginning of the summer, NPÚ announced that a contractor had been selected for the restoration of the Invalidovna, consisting of a consortium of companies Metrostav, Avers, and Chládek and Tintěra.

The project includes the restoration of the old Invalidovna as well as the construction of two new wings for the Prague Philharmonic Choir and for the placement of technologies. The new spaces will provide the choir with modern facilities, including rehearsal rooms and technologies for professional choral operations. The renovated complex with two new extensions is expected to open to the public at the turn of 2029 and 2030.

Invalidovna has had the highest degree of heritage protection since 2017. It became a national cultural monument at that time and has been under the administration of NPÚ since 2018. Since then, preparations for reconstruction and the completion of new necessary spaces have been underway. NPÚ announced a competition for these, and the project by architect Petr Hájek was successful.

The Invalidovna was established based on a Parisian model to serve the needs of war veterans according to the plan of prominent architect Kilián Ignác Dienzenhofer. The cornerstone was laid in 1732 in the presence of Emperor Charles VI. The original plan called for housing up to 4,000 invalids and their families, but only one-ninth of the project was realized.

The Invalidovna housed war invalids until 1935, and the life there was captured by photographer Josef Sudek. Later, the building housed the Military Central Archive, was significantly damaged by floods in 2002, and was then transferred to the Office for State Representation in Property Matters, and in 2018 was transferred free of charge to NPÚ.