The Žižkov freight station is once again a cultural monument

Prague - The Ministry of Culture (MK) has once again declared the Žižkov freight station a cultural monument. The heritage department of the MK made this decision on February 21. The association Tady není developerovo, which advocates for the preservation of the railway building, informed ČTK about this today. Declaring the building a cultural monument means that its owner cannot dispose of it arbitrarily or remove it. The owner can appeal against the decision; they have already done so in a previous proceeding.
If they were to appeal the second decision of the MK, the Minister of Culture, Alena Hanáková (STAN), would make the final decision regarding the potential heritage protection of the station as the appellate authority. According to her previous statements, the heritage value of the building is "undeniable."
The owner of the property, the company Žižkov Station Development, received the decision on February 28, and since then a fifteen-day period has been running in which they can appeal, the workers of the MK's heritage department informed ČTK.
The building has previously been declared a monument; however, after the owner's appeal, the then Minister of Culture Jiří Besser canceled the decision and returned the case to his heritage experts for review. Now, the heritage department has once again concluded that the freight station is a cultural monument due to its indisputable historical, technical, and architectural value.
The extensive main building of the station, which is considered by the decision to be an exceptionally high-quality example of functionalist architecture for technical purposes and has remained in a rather intact form, was declared a monument. However, unlike the previous declaration, the adjacent gatehouses and the original fencing did not become part of the monument this time. According to the current statement from the MK, they allegedly "have lost a significant part of their authenticity."
The comprehensive justification primarily relies on the conclusions of four new expert assessments that recommend preserving the station building. Some of them even allow for more extensive modifications to the building, which heritage protection should not hinder. This includes the possibility of raising the building by the originally planned but never realized third floor (according to the assessment of the National Technical Museum).
Žižkov Station Development is owned by Sekyra Group and Czech Railways. They plan to build a new district on the site of the station. The final decision of the MK should also reflect changes to the zoning plan, which is necessary for any redevelopment of the area.
"Even if the developer appeals, after more than a year of our efforts, it will be politically unsustainable for the minister to accommodate the developer's objections and revoke the heritage protection again," believes Matěj Stropnický, a member of the Tady není developerovo association and a representative of Prague 3 for the Green Party. He also suggests that a possibility is beginning to emerge that the preserved building could serve the National Film Archive after renovation.