Vimperk will repair the dilapidated printers and Steinbrener's birthplace for 140 million

Vimperk (Prachaticko) – The town of Vimperk in Prachaticko will repair the dilapidated former printing houses and the birthplace of Johann Steinbrener and will create a multifunctional cultural and community center within them. The costs could reach 140 million crowns, making it one of the largest investments in the modern history of the city, for which it will seek subsidies. The project, building permit, and construction documentation will be prepared by Ateliér 111 architects, the winner of the invited competition, with whom the city has signed a contract. The design work is expected to take about four years and will cost the city 16 million crowns excluding VAT. The city will now ensure the structural stability of the historically valuable buildings and is preparing a tender for the construction contractor, city spokesman Milan Brabec informed today.

"Our goal is to preserve as much of the original buildings as possible because of their historical value, and therefore we must secure them against further deterioration until construction begins. The advantage is that, thanks to the division of the area into individual buildings, we can carry out the renovations in phases and thus not burden the city budget with a high expense all at once,” said Mayor Jaroslava Martanová (STAN).

The printing complex is located in the city’s heritage zone of Vimperk, in close proximity to Svobody Square, and consists of three buildings: two multi-story municipal houses on Steinbrener Street, which date back to the 16th century, and the south wing of the printing house, which was built in 1872 and is in a state of emergency.

The city wants to transform them into a social and cultural center with multifunctional halls, exhibitions honoring the printer Johann Steinbrener, and a reminder of Czech-German relations, accommodations, facilities, and spaces for community meetings. Ateliér 111 architects will present the winning design and the future appearance of the entire complex on October 1 at the town hall.

Some of the dilapidated structures of the printing house were at risk of demolition. Their former owners neglected them for a long time, renting them out to tenants who further contributed to their destruction by, for example, tearing out and burning wooden parts of the structure. As a result, the buildings began to pose a danger to their residents and the surrounding area, prompting the building authority to issue a decision for the partial removal of the structures at the city’s proposal in 2017.

In 2020 and 2021, the city purchased all the buildings, completing the property transfer in the land register in February 2022. It then sealed them off and decided to save them for their historical value instead of demolishing them.

Last year, Vimperk Town Hall had a static assessment prepared and based on it, it applied for a building permit for provisional structural reinforcement of the Steinbrener houses, including the buildings without house numbers in the courtyard. This was granted on May 10, 2024. "The superior regional building authority, after consulting with the Ministry of Regional Development, confirmed that this building permit replaces the 2017 demolition decision,” added Martanová.