In the Invalidovna, the photographer Sudek created, and Amadeus was filmed here as well

Prague - The business card of the former Invalidovna building in Prague's Karlín, which the National Heritage Institute (NPÚ) will take over for management on Friday:

- The Invalidovna is a large baroque structure in Prague's Karlín. The Kaizlovy sady park is located around the building. It was built between 1731 and 1737 on the Špitálské field, which was owned by the Knights of the Cross with Red Star, at the behest of Emperor Charles VI as a shelter for war veterans. The foundation stone was laid with the participation of Emperor Charles VI in August 1732. A similar building in Paris served as a model for the builders.

- The plans for the construction were developed by the famous baroque architect Kilián Ignác Dientzenhofer in 1730, while the basic floor plan was created by the Vienna architect Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach. Due to a lack of funds, only one-ninth of the proposal was realized. The foundation of the building was thanks to the endowment of the Florentine Count Pietro Strozzi, who, as a soldier, personally experienced the helplessness of the wounded and has a statue in the building.

- The Invalidovna was a small, closed world where military discipline reigned. The original project planned for the accommodation of 4000 invalids with families. However, at its peak occupancy, about 2000 people lived there. The building served for the accommodation of war invalids until 1935. One of the most famous Czech photographers, Josef Sudek, lived and created there after returning from the front. In the 1920s, the entire building was modernized according to the design of Josef Vejrych and Viktor Beneš.

- In the recent past, the building housed the Military Central Archive, which moved in 2015 to a reconstructed building in the barracks area in Prague-Ruzyně. The floods in 2002 damaged a large part of the archive in the Invalidovna - over 30,000 boxes of archival materials were flooded. About 26,000 boxes of archival materials were managed to be saved.

- Three years ago, the Office for Representation of the State in Property Matters (ÚZSVM) took over the building from the Ministry of Defense, which announced a tender for its sale in June 2016. However, a group of academics and historians, as well as the city of Prague, opposed this, and the NPÚ came forward with an offer to take over the area. In the end, no one applied for the tender with a minimum asking price of 637.7 million crowns.

- The official request for the Invalidovna was submitted by the NPÚ in mid-August 2016, and negotiations about the transfer have been ongoing since then. The ÚZSVM pointed out deficiencies in the documentation submitted by the preservationists regarding the further use of the buildings, while representatives of the NPÚ said last Summer that they had provided everything necessary. Meanwhile, in February 2017, the government included the area on the list of national cultural monuments. The demission Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) said during a visit to the monument in March this year that the state would find about one billion needed for its reconstruction.

- The Invalidovna complex includes a built-up area and courtyard of more than 12,000 square meters, as well as gardens that cover nearly 10,000 square meters. Notable landmarks include the Chapel of the Holy Cross, an Empire-style fountain, and a lice-killing kettle.

- The area is popular among filmmakers; Miloš Forman, for instance, shot certain scenes of his successful film Amadeus here. More recently, a Czech film featuring Karel Roden in the lead role, Guard No. 47, was filmed here. American filmmakers utilized the spaces of the Invalidovna for their action comic film Hellboy.

- A nearby housing estate and metro station are named after the Invalidovna.