The renovation of the museum in H. Králové has finished, but it will not open until autumn

Hradec Králové - The reconstruction of the Art Nouveau building of the East Bohemia Museum in Hradec Králové, costing more than 100 million Czech crowns including VAT, has been completed after a year. It is expected to open to the public in the autumn, as preparations for the exhibition costing more than 18 million crowns will follow. The city has yet to successfully select a contractor in a competition to build the exhibition. Representatives of the municipality told ČTK this. A new feature for visitors will be a viewpoint from the museum's roof over part of the city center, which will be accessible with a guide as part of the tour circuit.

"A new public tender for the exhibition contractor will be announced in the coming days," said the city hall spokesperson Kateřina Šmídová to ČTK.

The new museum exhibition is not expected to be a traditional showcase with display cases; its basic components are to be architectural elements of the city. Another novelty will be that the exhibition will be located in the renovated underground floor.

The owner of the building and the investor of the repairs is the city, while the East Bohemia Museum is established by the Hradec Králové Region. Most of the eligible costs come from a European grant. "The city of Hradec Králové invested 100.3 million crowns, including VAT, in the revitalization, and we managed to obtain 74.6 million crowns from grants," stated Deputy Mayor Monika Štayrová (ANO).

Renovations of the museum began in May last year. Builders repaired areas in front of the building, replaced windows, and the building received a new facade, which matches the original appearance in color. The heat transfer station, which was located in the museum's basement and supplied heat to houses in the adjacent streets, was relocated. Experts restored the fountain in front of the museum and renovated two seven-meter statues on the building's facade.

"The museum, which is the only national cultural monument in the city, has in some respects returned to the form it had thanks to architect Jan Kotěra about a hundred years ago," said the city's mayor Alexandr Hrabálek (for ODS).

The museum building was constructed according to Kotěra's design between 1909 and 1912. The museum was declared a national cultural monument in 1995.