In the Army Museum in Žižkov, demolition work has been completed

Prague – The Army Museum in Prague's Žižkov district has already acquired new underground spaces, and the roofing of the courtyard is also being completed. The building, which also serves as the seat of the Military History Institute (VHÚ), is in the middle of its reconstruction. After the repairs, the museum will triple its exhibition space and will also offer a new space for social events, including concerts and conferences, in the covered courtyard. The Minister of Defense Lubomír Metnar (for ANO) inspected the progress of the reconstruction today. The repairs are expected to be completed probably in 2022. The originally anticipated deadline will be pushed back due to newly identified issues with statics or insulation. Therefore, the budget will be increased.

The reconstruction of the museum began in 2018. It had been closed a year earlier, as the VHÚ first transported its collections to new storage facilities in Lešany near Prague, after which VHÚ staff moved to temporary spaces.

The repairs are currently about halfway done. Workers still have some rough work ahead of them, but in some parts of the building, the plastering, installations, and even window refurbishments are already completed. The planned disassembly of the crane that currently stands in the middle of the courtyard indicates the nearing completion of heavy work.

According to Metnar, who was presented with the progress of the work today, no long-term investment had been made in the building, and it gradually deteriorated. The neglect is visible on it, he told journalists. He reminded that the resolution for the reconstruction was approved as early as 2000 during the government of then-prime minister Miloš Zeman. However, it took another 18 years for the work to commence. He emphasized the importance of successfully building the museum. "It is necessary to remember these historical milestones or the history of the Czech Republic and Czechoslovakia," he added.

The original plan anticipated the completion of reconstruction work around the turn of 2020 and 2021. The expected deadline has now been pushed to 2022. The director of the VHÚ, Aleš Knížek, called the general reconstruction very demanding. "The building was constructed in 1932, and no investments have been made in it since then," he told ČTK and Czech Television. In the 1950s and 1970s, according to him, interventions were made to the insulation and ventilation of the building, due to which it started to suffer from statics, among other issues. Problems arose only after work commenced. "All these issues must be addressed, which extends the expected opening time to 2022," he noted. This also means an increase in the budget. "I can't say exactly yet, but we are talking about tens of millions," he added. The original price was set at around 600 million crowns.

The reconstruction will bring fundamental changes for museum visitors. A new entrance to the museum will be created, leading underground from the place where a historical tank stood before the repairs began. The exhibition space is expected to triple to 3,650 square meters. This will allow the VHÚ to exhibit additional historical objects that had to be stored in warehouses until now.

The original plaster will be preserved, which the workers must clean through a demanding process. Additionally, a new café in the style of the 1930s with a terrace overlooking a large part of Prague's historic center will be created in the reconstructed spaces.