Prague, July 2 (CTK) – Car parking has been banned next to the church in Malostranske namesti, central square of Prague’s Lesser Town historical neighbourhood, as of July 1, since the City Hall wants to open the site to entertainment and cultural events.
The City Hall announced the abolition of the parking lot a few months in advance. On Friday, the ban took effect and was confirmed to journalists by Prague Mayor Adriana Krnacova (ANO).
The historical square below the Prague Castle Hill is a popular tourist attraction. It is dominated by the baroque St Nicholas church, built after Christoph and Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofers’ design in the first half of the 18th century.
The seats of the two houses of parliament are located in the square’s close vicinity.
The City Hall’s Institute of Planning and Development will be supervising the square’s management for several months before a special coordinator of programme is chosen.
A new website is to be launched for firms, groups and individuals to offer staging events in the square.
The City Hall has been planning a thorough reconstruction of Malostranske namesti for several years. It is not clear when it will start, though a victorious Czech design was chosen by a jury in an international architectonic competition in September 2014.
Now and then, voices have been heard calling for the reinstallation of a large monument to Jan Josef Vaclav Radecky (1766-1858), the Czech-born famous field Marshall of the Austrian empire, which used to stand in the square from 1858 to 1919.
