The demolition of the Schlaraffia castle in Jablonec cannot continue for now

Jablonec nad Nisou - The demolition of the Schlaraffia Society's villa in Jablonec nad Nisou cannot continue for now. The police halted the work, and the regional office will have to decide. However, the dispute may end up in court. MALINA-safety is convinced that it was demolishing legally and is prepared to go to court as well. Radek Malina, the co-owner of the company, told ČTK today that the company bought the land with the villa in 2006 and wants to use it to expand production, which the current building cannot accommodate.

"We are convinced that the demolition permit has become legally effective. In our opinion, the city filed an appeal late. Given that the city tried purposefully to reopen the case at the Ministry of Culture, we took a step that, although we are not pleased about, we believe was entirely legal," said Malina.

The city's attempts to declare the building a cultural monument prompted the company to accelerate the demolition work, as the owners feared that the proceedings would halt the company's development for many years. The villa from the early 20th century thus lost its tower and roofs on Saturday.

According to the company's management, the city council filed the appeal too late. A copy of the document available to ČTK has a delivery stamp dated April 11, but the deadline expired a day earlier. This was also confirmed to reporters today by Jana Vrabcová, head of the Environmental and State Heritage Protection Department of the city hall. However, according to Mayor Milan Kroupa, the appeal was sent on April 10.

"I submitted it via the data box," he said. Thus, according to officials, the demolition permit did not take legal effect, and MALINA-safety was not allowed to begin demolition. The company now faces a fine of half a million crowns from the building authority, as well as criminal prosecution, as the area was not sufficiently secured during the demolition.

The villa at the bus station was built in 1908 as the headquarters of one of the men's society clubs, Schlaraffia. It was exceptional because this association usually only rented its headquarters. The building was constructed in a historicizing style. In the past, the Ministry of Culture did not approve heritage protection; however, the city tried to save the building. The owner did not want to sell the property in his area. The company had proposed to keep the dominant front part with the tower and battlements and demolish the back part to build a production and storage hall there. The parties did not reach an agreement, and it is likely that the rest of the villa will end up being demolished as well.