Architects recommend a competition for the exhibitions of the National Museum in Prague

Prague - The Czech Chamber of Architects (ČKA) recommends the management of the National Museum (NM) in Prague to use an architectural competition in solving new permanent exhibitions. ČTK was informed about this by ČKA spokesperson Markéta Pražanová. The costs for the new shape of the exhibitions are expected to be in the hundreds of millions of crowns. The museum management is preparing a tender for next year.
In a tender, a single supplier of the contract is chosen based on its offer. In an architectural competition, participants submit specific proposals, and a qualified jury selects the best solution for the given task.
"This transparent method brings a variety of solutions from which the client can choose. Moreover, it is a process worthy of the institution's significance," stated Pražanová. ČTK could not obtain a statement from the NM.
Currently, the museum management is preparing a design for the new shape of the permanent exhibitions and visitor services in the historic building after its reconstruction, which will be connected to new spaces in the former building of the Federal Assembly. The design will serve as a basis for further proceedings, in which architectural solutions and designs for the individual parts of the exhibitions should be prepared.
According to Dagmar Fialová, the deputy general director of the National Museum, the museum should start working on the tender for the preparation of individual parts of the permanent exhibition and visitor facilities, or possibly the exhibition as a whole, in 2012.
The new exhibitions will be created alongside the reconstruction of the historic building, which will be connected to the adjacent building of the former Federal Assembly by an underground corridor. As a result, the National Museum will double its exhibition space to 11,300 square meters across both buildings.
The historic NM building has been closed since July 7 for reconstruction, which is expected to last until 2015. According to the deputy for investment development, Milan Plaček, the museum has 3.3 billion crowns available for the reconstruction. The reconstruction and preparation of new exhibitions have separate financing, according to Pražanová, so it should not happen that the money for the exhibitions is used during the reconstruction.