The National Museum is seeking a designer for the reconstruction of its building

Prague - The Prague National Museum (NM) has announced a selection process for the designer of the general reconstruction of the main building on Wenceslas Square. This is set to start in 2011, last for four years, and cost 4.5 billion crowns.
    "The preparatory phase is coming to a close, focusing on the processing of surveys, the technical inventory of the condition of the building, user intent, and the feasibility study for the reconstruction. We aim to select the contractor for the project documentation in November," said Milan Plaček, the NM deputy for investment development, to ČTK. This will also include a connecting corridor that will link the museum with the adjacent building of the former Federal Assembly.
    "The date for its takeover has been postponed. We expect to take it over after the relocation of Radio Free Europe at the turn of May and June next year," said Michal Lukeš, the museum's general director, to ČTK. He considers the selection of the reconstruction designer significant for the implementation of the agreement between the government, the ministries of culture and transport, and the city council regarding the transfer of the north-south bypass into a tunnel behind the museum. Its aim is to connect Wenceslas Square with the museum and the pedestrian boulevard with Vinohradská Street.
    "We are managing to fulfill the schedule for preparatory work, which is also related to the disbursement of financial resources," said Lukeš. By the start of construction, approximately 700 million crowns of the total amount of 4.5 billion will be invested in preparatory actions prior to the reconstruction. Currently, natural history collections are being moved to Horní Počernice. Additional depositories are being built in the Terezín barracks, where historical collections and the library will be relocated in the coming years.
    According to Plaček, the relocation is not a simple matter - it will incur costs of 400,000 crowns this year alone; overall, the costs for equipping the depositories will amount to 31 million. "Items, specifically from the field of mineralogy these days, need to be cleaned, packed, and stored appropriately," he added. No later than the beginning of 2009, an atypical logistics function will be established for museum management. This person will coordinate all work so that the empty building can be handed over to the contractor in 2011.
    "It is an immense building, a national cultural monument, that has not been repaired for over a hundred years - that is why we are thoroughly dedicated to all studies, to avoid unexpected surprises during the reconstruction as much as possible," explained Lukeš.
    The National Museum building connected with the adjacent building will create a unified visitor and technological complex. It will offer thousands of square meters of modern exhibition and display spaces, lecture and screening halls, facilities for schools and work with children, museum shops, restaurants, and cafés.
    "After the relocation of Radio Free Europe, we want to at least partially open it to the public next year. In collaboration with the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, we are preparing an exhibition tentatively titled Be Free. It should bring closer the second half of the 20th century, the human desire for freedom, and utilize the phenomenon of this radio station, the communist parliament that resided there, and the anniversaries of November 1989," said Lukeš. He also counts on a series of commented tours of the entire building, including explanations of what happened there. The entire museum administration, including the management, will move there next year.
    The National Museum manages 20 million collection items and has fifty buildings, twenty of which are exhibition spaces. Last year, it started the reconstruction of the National Monument at Vítkov, where an exhibition dedicated to Czech and Slovak statehood in the 20th century will open in a year. In the future, there are plans for the repair and innovation of exhibitions at the Náprstek Museum and the establishment of museums of the history of sport and theatre. The main museum building is expected to be fully operational in 2018, which will mark the 200th anniversary of the NM's founding.