45 years ago, the Prior from Žertová was opened in Pardubice

Prague - The Pardubice department store Prior, which welcomed its first customers on August 23, 1974, was one of the landmarks of this East Bohemian metropolis. The unmistakable red building with octagonal display windows, a floor made of Cuban marble, and the first escalators in Pardubice rose on the site of former military stables, designed by architect Růžena Žertová. Today, however, this unique example of brutalist architecture is insensitively overshadowed by a modern shopping center.

"The red facade caused great surprise, excitement, and dissatisfaction among the local communists. Comrade Kempný came to the opening from the Central Committee of the Communist Party. He declared, however, that he had no objections to the red facade, and the situation calmed down immediately," recalled Žertová, the creator of Prior, who also designed department stores in Ústí nad Labem, Košice, Michalovce, and Ostrava. However, it was the Pardubice store that brought her the greatest fame, earning her first prize in an international competition in Montevideo, Uruguay.

The red - and over time more orange or pink - building offered the inhabitants of Pardubice a rich assortment of goods under one roof for its time (the neighboring Hradec Králové had to wait seven more years for a similar center). After 1989, however, it faced competition mainly from hypermarkets on the outskirts and the Hradec Králové center Futurum. In 2008, a new shopping center opened right next door, connected to Prior, which, however, sacrificed its original entrance.