The National Palace will be completed in a year, costing 700 million crowns

Prague - The new National Palace at the corner of Národní street and Mikulandská street in the center of the Prague heritage reservation will be completed in a year. This is an investment of approximately 700 million crowns, said the project's author, architect Stanislav Fiala, during today's tour. Instead of the originally planned luxury hotel, a glass building with shops, restaurants, and offices is rising in the gap.

The company Sebre purchased the project with a valid building permit for a hotel. However, due to the decline in tourism and the high supply of accommodation capacities in the capital, the company decided to build a multifunctional building.

The National Palace will have 2,479 square meters of shops and restaurants; on the upper floors, there will be 7,655 square meters of space for studios and offices. The architect placed a garden on the roof. The exterior glass walls on the individual floors will also be adorned with green terraces. "There is a lack of green resting areas on Národní," the architect said.

The project includes the reconstruction of the neighboring protected Baroque Schönkirch Palace, which it is connected to. At street level, both buildings will be linked by a passage. An entrance will be created to the adjacent building, where UMPRUM will be located. During the survey, heritage protectors discovered valuable historical paintings of wooden ceilings from the late 17th century and wall paintings. The architect will use unused original materials, such as old tiles, bricks, or stones, to decorate the new building.

In 2005, the municipality sold the land, presumably for a record price of 234,700 crowns per square meter, totaling nearly 184 million crowns.