The first skyscraper has been standing in Pankráci since the late 1970s

Prague - Basic information about high-rise buildings in Pankrác, whose planned appearance and potential impact on the character of the Prague UNESCO heritage site will be discussed by UNESCO experts in Prague next week. Their findings will serve as the basis for the summer meeting of the UNESCO Committee, which will reassess whether Prague is sufficiently caring for the values for which it was listed on the UNESCO list after last year's reprimand.    
    - Plans for the construction of high-rise buildings in Pankrác appeared as early as the 1930s. The current skyscrapers are the result of an architectural competition from the mid-1960s. A whole modern center for Prague 4 was planned, but according to architect Václav Aulický, the original concept began to fragment, leaving only the current remnants.
    - The first building, the Motokov building (now City Empiria), was constructed between 1975 and 1977 and measures 104 meters. The second skyscraper was the Panorama Hotel (now Corinthia Panorama), which is 79 meters tall and was completed in 1983. Five years later, the Forum Hotel (now Corinthia Towers), which is 84 meters tall, was added to the edge of the Nusle Valley. The most recently completed and tallest building at 109 meters is the City Tower, which received occupancy approval last year and began construction in 1978 for the former Czechoslovak Radio.
    - Since the 1990s, there has been renewed consideration for the completion of the Pankrác plain, and the whole matter gained momentum after the ECM company purchased the unfinished building of the former radio in 1999, which also owned the former Motokov. In 2000, the investor presented a study developed by renowned architect Richard Meier, which proposed to increase the radio building to 122 meters, alongside which another building, 160 meters high, would be erected. This sparked extensive debate, which ultimately led to a new project four years ago, according to which the former radio building would remain at its original height. It is to be complemented by a new residential building in the shape of the letter V, as tall as Motokov, and a hotel with a circular floor plan slightly shorter than the neighboring Panorama.
    - In 2006, the heritage department of the Prague City Hall agreed to the completion of the plain according to the project, but several civic associations opposed the project. The Ministry of Culture upheld the appeal, and the city hall subsequently incorporated the comments and issued a new approval statement. Civic associations appealed again, and the matter returned to the Ministry of Culture, which ultimately allowed the construction of the project last summer.
    - Experts do not agree on whether to build additional high-rise buildings in Pankrác. For example, architectural historian Zdeněk Lukeš stated that "something can still be added in Pankrác, as long as it does not exceed the existing height." Well-known architect Ladislav Lábus is also not against the construction of further skyscrapers. However, the author of the Dancing House, Vlado Milunić, argues that "skyscrapers belong in the valley," and not on the Pankrác plain. "Prague is a city of towers and should definitely not become a city of skyscrapers. I dislike aggressive skyscrapers and their trendy English names," he also said.
    - The main opponents of the new buildings include the head of the Czech committee of the International Council on Monuments and Sites, Josef Štulc, who stated that the completion could lead to the exclusion of the metropolis from the UNESCO World Heritage list. "Prague is at risk of falling out of the elite club of world monuments, and by ignoring the decisions of a globally recognized organization, it will create an international scandal," said Martin Skalský from the environmental organization Arnika. On the other hand, city heritage officers agree with the project, their head Jan Kněžínek considers the possible exclusion from the UNESCO list to be nonsense. A similar opinion is held by the mayor Pavel Bém (ODS), who states that the plain needs modern urbanization. "The Panorama is already disturbed. Therefore, the high-rise buildings will not disrupt it, but will enhance it," he stated last September.