The repeated mention of his name is taken by architect Pleskot from Pavel as a challenge

Prague - Josef Pleskot takes the proposal of the elected president Petr Pavel for cooperation with a leading Czech architect, which has been publicly stated several times, as his responsibility and challenge. Pleskot said this today to ČTK. He stated that he respects Pavel as a person and as president. However, according to both men, the first step in any changes must be the resolution of security measures when entering the premises of Prague Castle.

"As a person, I respect him, as president, I respect him, and when such a challenge is publicly stated, even three times, I definitely cannot let it pass by. I have to respond somehow, and I will. I take it as a responsibility, as a challenge," Pleskot told ČTK today.

He does not want to talk directly about becoming the castle architect, like it was during the First Republic and the collaboration between Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk and architect Jože Plečnik. "I think my name was mentioned more as a bait; no one can think that I would be any kind of monarchist exploitative user of such a mandate. The form of cooperation would have to be discussed," he said. He is not yet aware of any advisory board being formed in the field of architecture or culture at the Castle.

"I think President Pavel wanted to point out that Prague Castle was being closed to the public. He knows that under Václav Havel there was an opposite tendency, that Havel wanted to make Prague Castle accessible to everyone," said Pleskot.

"I have pointed this out many times when I criticized (outgoing president Miloš) Zeman and (his predecessor Václav) Klaus for their interventions, for closing the Castle, not continuing the tendencies of Václav Havel. Pavel certainly recorded all of this and knew that I have long been interested in Prague Castle. We haven't talked about it personally, but I believe we are tuned to a similar note in this regard," he added.

According to him, Petr Pavel is someone who understands the role of architecture as a broadly spanning social discipline. "He may be one of the first politicians who have directed attention in this direction," the architect believes.

The position of castle architect at Prague Castle was held by Bořek Šípek during Václav Havel's presidency. His influence was more evident in smaller architectural adjustments and primarily in the interiors, where under his supervision, chandeliers, vases, sets of drinking glasses, and furniture were created for the representative spaces of the Castle. Josef Pleskot is the last architect who left a significant architectural mark on the Castle grounds in the form of the passage through the rampart of the Powder Bridge.

"I think I am the last architect, but who knows how everyone sees it. Perhaps the air conditioning that Václav Klaus had installed could be considered the biggest thing... But air conditioning probably didn't make Prague Castle famous," the architect believes.

According to Pleskot, solving security measures when entering the Castle is the primary task. "I have more or less sent a message through the media that the privatization of Prague Castle and the creation of new barriers must go away. Pavel responded to that when he was asked what he would do within 24 hours of his presidency. He replied that perhaps it would be enough to remove those barriers," Pleskot recalled.

Josef Pleskot celebrated his 70th birthday last December. On that occasion, he told ČTK that architecture, in his view, is a medium that helps to live life better and shapes conditions for the best possible social ties. Pleskot is capable of addressing tasks from family houses to public buildings to extensive residential, administrative, or production areas. Perhaps the most well-known are Pleskot's projects for Litomyšl, and more recently, the area of Lower Vítkovice in Ostrava; his work can be found alongside the metropolis in other cities as well. In Prague, his studio is working on the reconstruction of the Dominican monastery on Husova Street, while on the other side of the Vltava River, the revitalization of the space in front of the entrance to the Church of the Virgin Mary Victorious with the famous Prague Infant Jesus is waiting for an architect. He is also addressing the headquarters of Sokol in Malá Strana and the project of the Center for Experimental Medicine in Albertov.