Pardubice - Dominik Barták from Pardubice submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Culture for the listing of a wooden building on the edge of the Pardubice athletic stadium at Dukla as a cultural monument. The object is the last remnant of a large field hospital from World War I, known as the quarantine. Pardubice wants to buy it and demolish it, as it should give way to the modernization of the athletic complex.
"It is important to remember history, not just to say that this building is about to collapse and we will build a parking lot in its place. I have nothing against the Dukla sports project, but I want to provoke a societal debate because many people in Pardubice are not even aware of this building," Barták told ČTK.
The wooden building is the last one that has survived from the large field hospital of World War I. The lazaret, also known as quarantine, began construction in November 1914, and by spring, 365 mostly wooden barracks surrounded by a fence had emerged. Thus, a military war hospital was established in the city for 10,000 wounded from all battlefields of World War I. The site covered 80 hectares and functioned as a vast, self-sufficient town. The hospital operated until 1924 after the war. In the interwar period, the barracks served the poor of Pardubice, and in 1949, the first modern residential estate in Pardubice, Dukla, began construction on this site.
Pardubice decided on Thursday that it will buy the building from the basketball club in the future. They will need the land where it stands for the extensive planned modernization of the athletic complex at Dukla. Part of it is to become a parking lot and part a green area for throwing events.
The city leadership did not consider the preservation of the object in their decision-making. "I can't imagine that today. I recognize the historical value, but on the other hand, the technical condition, and moving this type of wooden structure raises the question of whether it will fulfill that historical function if we relocate it, and what will happen next," said Mayor Martin Charvát (ANO) during the discussion.
According to Barták, the preservation of the dilapidated building is supported by the Czechoslovak Legionary Association and historian Jiří Kotyk, a member of the Pardubice Friends Club. "I don’t want to suggest now what could be created there. It would depend on the condition of the building and financial possibilities. But Alice Masaryková also worked as a nurse in quarantine; in cooperation with the East Bohemian Museum, there could be a permanent exhibition, a lecture hall, or a café," Barták stated. He considers it insufficient to merely commemorate the military facility with a memorial plaque at this location.
According to Pavel Stary, chairman of the board of the BK Pardubice basketball club, the club does not use the building also due to its dilapidation. They rent it to another entity as a warehouse.
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