90 years ago, a house collapsed in the Prague street Na Poříčí

Prague - The disaster that occurred 90 years ago, on October 9, 1928, on Na Poříčí street in Prague, remains a warning example for all builders. The effort for the swiftest and cheapest construction is generally considered the primary cause of the collapse of the nearly completed department store, which buried at least 46 people. The tragedy is recorded in history as the largest construction disaster of modern Czech history.

The construction of the building at the corner of Na Poříčí and Biskupská streets was carried out by the builders Tomáš Pražák and Pavel Moravec. The official cause of the disaster was the overload of the corner pillars supporting the bay window beam. Unofficially, it was said that the real cause lay in the use of lower quality cement.

At the time of the disaster, there were 87 workers on site, and many people were in the street. 46 people died in the rubble and 23 were seriously injured (according to other sources, there were up to 60 dead and 30 seriously injured).

The disaster caused shock and protests from the public; however, according to available information, the perpetrator was never precisely identified, although a special commission was established to investigate the disaster and it was also investigated by the police. Pražák and Moravec built the Centrum hotel on the same site two years later.