The reconstruction of the former Praha-Bubny train station into a memory center begins

Prague - A short prayer for the victims of the Holocaust will accompany today’s ceremonial opening of the reconstruction of the former Prague-Bubny railway station. During World War II, around 50,000 mostly Czechoslovak Jews passed through this site on their way to Theresienstadt and concentration and extermination camps. The station will host the Bubny Memory and Dialogue Center (CPDB).

Alongside exhibition halls and multifunctional spaces, a café will be created at the original station, and there are plans to revitalize the adjacent public space. The monument "Gate of No Return" by sculptor Aleš Veselý will continue to dominate the site. The railway track raised to the sky symbolizes the former suffering and last journey of people heading to transports. The late Veselý installed the monument at the station with the help of the director of the Silent Memorial, Pavel Štingl, ten years ago in the spring of 2015.

The transformation of the original Bubny station was designed by the Hradec Králové-based studio ARN, led by architects Jiří and Michal Krejčík. The project was commissioned by the original organization, the Silent Memorial, which the Ministry of Culture transformed into CPDB last year and changed its leadership.

Train services to the station ceased at the beginning of 2023, when demolition began as part of modernization work on the line to Kladno. Trains had been running here continuously since 1868, and the current station building, through which people passed for transports, dates back to 1923. The Czech Railways intends to open a new and much larger Prague - Bubny station near the Negrelli Viaduct, likely in August.