The state renovated the administrative building in the center of Ústí for 180 million crowns

photo: irozhlas.cz

Ústí nad Labem – The Office for the Representation of the State in Property Affairs (ÚZSVM) has completed the largest and most demanding investment project in its history. It has renovated the administrative building featuring a giant mosaic by Miroslav Houra in Mírové náměstí in the center of Ústí nad Labem, which houses five state institutions and the city hall. The costs amounted to nearly 180 million crowns. This was reported today by the office's spokesperson Michaela Tesařová.

The reconstruction was divided into three phases. Builders worked on the external shell, restored the glass walls of the display windows on the ground floor, and refurbished the stone cladding. "Thanks to this renovation, which utilized modern technologies, energy and operational costs of the building will be reduced. The appearance of the building in the city center has also improved," said the spokesperson.

Due to the work, 225 offices had to be vacated and then reoccupied. A total of 180 employees were relocated within the building. "However, the reconstruction work took place without interrupting the operations of all organizations located in the building," the spokesperson stated. In addition to the Office for the Representation of the State in Property Affairs, the building houses the labor office, offices of the Supreme Audit Office, the State Environmental Fund, and it is where people go for personal identification documents and population registration.

The building in Mírové náměstí was constructed in the late 1970s and architecturally and structurally is part of the administrative complex in the city center. It features a mosaic that covers an area of 450 square meters, with the theme celebrating work in northern Bohemia. "At the request of the heritage preservationists, the mosaic was cleaned, but otherwise nothing was done to it," Tesařová told ČTK. The mosaic depicts various historical moments of northern Bohemia, representing professions and economic sectors important to the region. The work, commissioned by the then-communist regime in the 1980s, quickly gained several nicknames among the city's residents. Due to the several layers it is divided into, people referred to it, for instance, as "The Seven Floors of Communist Heaven" or "The Ascension of the Working Class."