The court will reopen the dispute over the registration of the polyclinic in Brno as a monument

Brno - The Municipal Court in Prague must again resolve the dispute over whether the facade of the Brno outpatient clinic Zahradníkova is properly registered as a cultural monument. The Ministry of Culture succeeded with a cassation complaint against the verdict that the outpatient clinic was unlawfully deprived of its monument status. This was reported by ČTK based on the statement on the official board of the Supreme Administrative Court.

The Zahradníkova outpatient clinic is one of many buildings in Brno affected by the issue of belatedly registered cultural monuments. There are more than 1,000 such objects. The problem arose at the end of the 1980s during a change in legislation. Monuments were supposed to be registered on the list by the end of 1987. However, some were not registered in time.

Last year, the Municipal Court in Prague ruled in favor of Brno's lawsuit and concluded that the determining factor is the date on which the decision was made regarding the registration in the state list of cultural monuments, rather than a later factual act by an employee of the National Heritage Institute. The registration for the facade of the outpatient clinic was only completed on February 7, 1989.

The Ministry reacted with a successful cassation complaint. The ruling "The decision of the Municipal Court in Prague is annulled and the matter is returned to this court for further proceedings," states the ruling of the Supreme Administrative Court. The reasoning will be published by the court no later than a month.

The Zahradníkova outpatient clinic is one of the significant buildings of interwar monumental civil architecture, which reflects classicist Egyptian elements as well as hints of Cubism. It still serves medical purposes.

Of the more than 1,000 objects in Brno regarding which doubts have arisen about their status as cultural monuments, the city owns about 200. The rest are owned by private owners. The city leadership has previously expressed concern that after losing monument protection, owners may do whatever they wish with the buildings, regardless of their heritage value.