Olomouc has appealed against the court's verdict regarding the lamps in the city center

Olomouc – The Olomouc city hall has appealed to the High Court against the verdict of the regional court, which ordered it to return Thorn lamps to the Upper Square. Lenka Jedličková from the press department of the city hall said this to ČTK today. Twelve years ago, despite objections from the authors of the reconstruction of the historic center, the city removed the Thorn lamps from the Upper Square and replaced them with UrbanStar lighting. It justified this by citing the inadequate luminosity of the Thorn lamps.

"Olomouc believes that before such a decision (to return the Thorn lamps to the square) was made, the technical, safety, and operational aspects of the proposed solution should have been thoroughly assessed," said Jedličková. According to the spokesperson, it was not sufficiently verified whether it is now possible to manufacture, install, and operate the original type of Thorn lamps in accordance with current public lighting requirements. "Therefore, during the proceedings, Olomouc already proposed supplementing the evidence with expert opinions and other evidence, but the court did not comply with these proposals," she stated.

Public lighting is part of the city furniture, of which, according to Jedličková, technical development, modernization, and gradual replacement are anticipated. The spokesperson pointed out that the original Thorn lamps were a serially produced element of public lighting that is no longer manufactured. Their potential return would require costly production of replicas and further technical interventions related to installation, mounting, and connection to the current infrastructure.

The prolonged dispute concerns the replacement of Thorn lamps with modern UrbanStar lighting. The city proceeded with this in 2014 despite the discontent of conservationists and the authors of the reconstruction of the Upper Square, who still disagree with it today. In 2016, the regional court stated that the city violated the authors' rights by replacing the lamps and ordered it to pay 100,000 crowns along with an apology. However, according to the ruling at that time, the city hall was not required to return the original Thorn lamps to the Upper Square.

The High Court confirmed two years ago that Jan Šépka, the co-author of the Upper Square reconstruction project, is entitled to an apology. According to the court, the city's replacement of the lighting infringed on their copyright and devalued their project. However, the High Court simultaneously annulled other statements of the regional court from 2016, which awarded compensation of 100,000 crowns but did not grant their request to restore the lighting of the square to its original state.

The regional court therefore dealt with the dispute again. According to architect Šépka, the new ruling of the regional court was in favor of the authors of the reconstruction of the Upper Square and the city hall will have to return the Thorn lamps to the center of Olomouc. It will have 12 months from the moment the ruling becomes legally effective. Šépka told ČTK that he is willing to negotiate with city hall representatives; there could also be a possibility of using the lamps designed for the reconstruction of the Upper Square in 2001, which are colloquially known as "slappers." Instead, Thorn lighting was installed after an agreement with the reconstruction authors.