Prague, July 22 (CTK) – Czech Culture Minister Daniel Herman has approved the heritage conservationists’ position permitting the reconstruction of a historical house in Prague that its owner, businessman Zdenek Bakala, wants to host the Vaclav Havel Library, the ministry spokeswoman Simona Cigankova said yesterday.
The reconstruction plan has been criticised by activists from the Club for Old Prague and also by the house’s last inhabitant, Bohumil Vejtasa.
They previously submitted official objections to the conservationists’ and the ministry’s approving stances on the plan.
Cigankova told CTK that it turned out that the ministry’s previous approval of the plan was in accordance with law and it is no reason to reassess it now.
The reconstruction is in the jurisdiction of the Prague City Hall’s heritage section now.
The southern part of the reconstructed house complex, situated in the Hradcany historical quarter near Prague Castle, is to include flats for rent. The rest is to host the Vaclav Havel Library, including conference rooms, together with several flats for guest lecturers, Oldrich Dajbych, from the Prague 1 Construction Office, has told the daily Pravo.
He said a problem lies in Vejtasa, who has the right to a lifelong use of his flat and who has been blocking the reconstruction project.
All remaining inhabitants previously moved away on agreement with the investor.
The critics mainly challenge the planned new underground floors that they call excessively deep, unnecessary, and threatening the house’s stability.
They are also against the plan to cover the inner yard with a roof.
The Vaclav Havel Library was established in 2004 after the end of Havel’s (1936-2011) last tenure as Czechoslovak and later Czech president (1989-2003).
The library organised public events in the Montmartre Gallery in Retezova Street, elsewhere in Prague’s centre, until the end of June 2014, while its offices, archive and research room were seated in Katerinska Street.
Since September 2014, all its bodies have been seated in Ostrovni Street.
