The torso of the former print shop in Opletalova Street is skewed

Prague - The ruins of the former Akciová printing house on Opletalova Street in Prague 1 are shifting. Surveyors have detected movement toward the courtyard during a recent measurement. The structure, which has been secured by a steel frame since 2007, is monitored every four months, and the deviation has now reached three millimeters. The building authority of Prague 1 is now considering whether to order further securing works or if it would be safer to completely demolish the structure.
    "It is not excluded that the entire building or part of it may be destroyed. We are looking for solutions and compiling assessments," said Oldřich Dajbych, head of the construction department of Prague 1, to ČTK. The façade of the former printing house is expected to become part of the administrative and commercial complex called Květinový dům, which is to be built at the corner of Václavské náměstí and Opletalova Street. However, the investor cannot start construction until the dispute with the Ministry of Culture regarding the non-declaration of the corner house as a cultural monument is resolved.
    For measuring the lean of the printing house ruins, surveyors use two methods - laser and optical. "Both measurements show that the values of the lean differed from the previous ones by three millimeters. The problem is that the trend of repeated shifts in one direction has been confirmed, which is dangerous," Dajbych stated.
    The lean may be related to the ongoing work in the courtyard of the building. Earth was excavated there in recent days. "The object is tilting as a whole because two walls are interconnected by a steel frame," Dajbych explained. Another threat could be large passing vehicles. "If garbage trucks or loaded construction vehicles were to pass by, the wall might start moving further and leaning more," the expert noted.
    The former Prague Stock Printing House was built in 1919 and once housed, for example, Národní listy. Since 2006, when construction work briefly took place there, it lost part of its valuable façade in the style of geometric Art Nouveau. The former printing house was protected as a cultural monument for six years, but in 2008 its then-owner requested the removal of the monument protection after demolishing a large part of the building. The Ministry of Culture complied - there was no longer anything to protect. Only the land remained protected as a monument.
    The supporting structure has been securing the ruins since 2007. Three years ago, the building authority verified whether the structure was still safe.
    The construction department of Prague 1 has previously set up a working group that specializes in similar buildings in a state of emergency. According to the head Radek Bukovjan, there are about 20 structures in the Ruins project, including the protected building Na Kocandě at the corner of Kaprova and Křižovnická streets or a gap in Palackého street.
    There are about 50 items on the list of the most endangered immovable monuments in Prague. According to Jan Baláček from the National Heritage Institute, most of them are located outside the territory of the Prague Heritage Reservation and thus outside the center. "But there are indeed buildings in a state of emergency in the very heart of Prague. Among others, the birthplace of Jaroslav Heyrovský - Na Kocandě. The case of the Vyšehrad railway station, where there was an unauthorized demolition of the timber waiting room in 2007, has also been known in the media," the heritage expert told ČTK.
    Only the outer walls remain today, for example, from the homestead Zlatnice on the edge of Šárecké valley or from the so-called Horův mill in Prokopské valley. A notorious example of a monument whose emergency state led to intentional demolition even before its formal cancellation as a cultural monument is the Štvanice winter stadium. It was demolished two years ago.