NPÚ filed an appeal against the rejection of heritage protection for Havířov

Prague - The National Heritage Institute (NPÚ) submitted an appeal on Wednesday against the decision of the Ministry of Culture, which did not declare the building of the Havířov railway station as a cultural monument. Jana Tichá, spokesperson for the NPÚ, told ČTK today. A few dozen people demonstrated in front of the ministry's office against the ministry's decision today. They held banners with phrases about the office's lack of culture or slogans such as We Value Our Own History or Listen to Experts, Not Investors.
   "We have a legal deadline of 60 days for the decision (in the appeal process) ," said Helena Markusová, spokesperson for the ministry, to ČTK. During the appeal process, the property is subject to a regime as if it had been declared a monument, meaning it cannot be demolished. The station belongs to Czech Railways, which wants to demolish the building from the 1960s and build a transport terminal in its place. Today's protest was organized by the association Důl architektury, which has long advocated for the preservation of the station and was the author of the proposal to declare the building a monument.
    Markusová read excerpts from the ministry's decision to the demonstrators, which partially acknowledged the value of the station's interior elements or the monumental glass mosaic by Václav Kopecký. "So why do you want to demolish it?" the protesters shouted at her. The suggestion that some elements of the building could be relocated or presented within the planned new construction prompted laughter from the crowd.
    Architect Josef Smutný reminded that the Ministry of Culture awarded its annual prize for lifetime achievement not only to the aforementioned artist Kopecký but also to architects Alena Šrámková, Emil Přikryl, Miroslav Masák, and just a few days ago, Ladislav Lábus. All of them supported the position of the Czech Chamber of Architects advocating for the preservation of the station, and the ministry refuses to respect their opinion, he stated. "In 25 years, the ministry has not been able to set principles for the protection of industrial and modern architecture," he noted.
    The ministry repeatedly decided on the building by architect Josef Hrejsemnou, which is considered a unique example of architecture from the Brussels style period according to experts, and again contradicted the opinions of NPÚ and the Czech Chamber of Architects. In its decision, it stated, among other things, that the quality of the building does not exceed the period framework. However, the biggest criticism was directed at the officials' mention of fears of accusations of thwarting investments. The building owner already has a valid demolition decision. If the station were declared a monument, it could not be demolished.
    Důl architektury first submitted a proposal to the ministry to declare the station a cultural monument in 2011 when Czech Railways presented its intention to demolish the building. NPÚ recommended the declaration, but the ministry refused to declare the station a monument in May 2012. The authors of the proposal submitted a request to the ministry for a review process; during the review, the object enjoys preliminary heritage protection. The then Minister Alena Hanáková initiated the review in March 2013, and in June, as outgoing minister, she halted the proceedings and allowed the demolition of the building.
    She argued back then, among other things (similarly to the case of halting the review regarding the house at the corner of Wenceslas Square and Opletalova Street in Prague), that "there are rights of participants acquired in good faith that outweigh the public interest in the protection of cultural heritage," thus fearing that the owners would want their allegedly already invested money back from the state.
    This year's supplemented proposal to declare the station a monument, which also emphasized some artworks in the interior, has been supported by both the NPÚ and the Chamber of Architects, but the ministry published its negative opinion this month.