Preparation work for the new building at Wenceslas Square has begun

Prague - The investor has begun preparatory work on the construction site of the demolished building at the corner of Opletalova Street and Wenceslas Square. The work is expected to last approximately six months, during which rubble will be removed, the land will be cleared, and the foundations of three surrounding buildings will be secured. Alexandra Drozdová from Best Communications, which represents the developer, told ČTK. Archaeologists are supervising all the work. The developer, who wants to build a new building on the corner, has not yet submitted an application for a building permit. Necessary official opinions are being compiled, Drozdová added.

The corner building was demolished last year for about four months, and its removal was protested primarily by part of the expert public. According to plans by the company Flow East, a building primarily with office space should rise in its place.

"The demolition fill of the basements will be gradually cleared, and along with that, structural safety of the construction pit will be carried out. Our supervisory oversight is conducted during this activity. The work procedures are refined weekly during a control day called by the site management," said Petr Starec from the Museum of the Capital City of Prague, under which the archaeological supervision falls. Potential archaeological artifacts, particularly in the form of wells, pits, or walls of older structures, may appear only after the removal of the floors of the original basement, which is anticipated to occur in the spring or later, he added.

According to archaeologist Jaroslav Podliska from the National Heritage Institute, however, given that an underground basement was previously built on the site, the older archaeological layers and structures have mostly been removed. "There is no more continuous non-basement area at this location. Therefore, a systematic archaeological research is not to be expected here," he told ČTK.

The new building is expected to fill the space left by the demolished building as well as a gap that has been adjacent to the corner building for several years and the land in the courtyard. In the place of the gap, there used to be a printing house that had been in decline for many years. In 2008, the then-owner demolished it, only after which he applied to have the heritage protection removed, which the Ministry of Culture complied with; the land remained protected as a heritage site.

At the time when the property was already owned by Flow East, a fragment of the façade was demolished in 2013 based on a static assessment. The ministry did not declare the corner building as a monument, mainly out of concern for arbitration due to the thwarted investment. The developer's actions were based on previous decisions of the authorities that allowed for the future realization of the project. Flow East also owns the neighboring Hotel Jalta and has a total of nine properties in Prague 1, including six cultural heritage sites.