The new visitor center of the Krkonošsko-jesenická National Park Administration in Vrchlabí will open in 2023

Vrchlabí – The Administration of the Krkonošsko National Park (KRNAP) plans to open a new visitor center in the currently under-construction former Augustinian monastery in Vrchlabí in 2023. The historic building houses the Krkonoš museum of the KRNAP Administration. The construction work, which began last February, has so far cost approximately 40 million crowns. This was reported today by representatives of the KRNAP Administration. The construction part of the project is expected to be completed by the end of 2021, after which the installation of the new exhibition will take place.

“The ceremonial opening of the new KRNAP Visitor Center is planned for 2023, when we will celebrate the 140th anniversary of the founding of the museum and the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the Krkonošsko National Park,” said KRNAP spokesperson Radek Drahný.

In recent months, the construction company has built a new entrance from the parking lot near the cemetery to the future visitor center. “Its design, a Krkonoš rock combined with the future glass block, refers to the geological peculiarities of the Krkonošsko National Park and at the same time to the connection of nature with traces of human work,” stated Drahný. Construction work will continue mainly inside the building. The KRNAP Administration is simultaneously preparing a tender for the new exhibition as the construction work continues.

The building of the former monastery has been closed since the autumn of 2017. The construction work is being carried out by Metrostav, which won the contract with a price of 109.5 million crowns without VAT. The total costs, including the construction of the exhibition, are estimated to exceed 200 million crowns. European subsidies are expected to cover more than 80 percent of the eligible costs.

The project has been accompanied by complications from the start. According to representatives of the administration, the administrative processing of the project was very demanding. “The construction phase was then affected by an unsatisfactory situation in the construction industry, where a shortage of labor capacity and rising construction costs influenced the beginning of the entire project,” stated Drahný.

The commencement of the reconstruction faced about a year delay. KRNAP had hoped to choose a contractor for the construction part by the end of 2018 and to start construction work in the spring of 2019. The second tender was announced by the KRNAP Administration in the summer of 2019, as the bids from companies in the previous tender significantly exceeded the expected price. Three companies applied for the second tender for the construction work, and Metrostav won.

According to Drahný, the construction and exhibition reconstruction of the monastery has been delayed due to high groundwater levels, as well as measures related to the coronavirus pandemic and the necessary static stabilization of the building's foundations. “During the demolition work, the original sewage system leading from the upper floor to the ground floor was discovered in the northern part of the building, in the area of the toilets, and in the eastern part of the corridor on the ground floor, the original flooring was uncovered, which was stored in the museum's depository,” stated representatives of the KRNAP Administration.

The original exhibition of the Krkonoš museum in Vrchlabí was opened on April 28, 1984. The exhibitions Stone and Life and Man and Mountains were once the pinnacle of museum work in the Czech Republic, attracting more than one million visitors. “The new KRNAP Visitor Center will present the story of the Krkonoš, taking into account the unique nature as well as the relationship between nature and man,” added Drahný.