The wooden Globe theater at the Exhibition Grounds burned down; no one was injured

PRAGUE - The wooden Globe Theatre located in the exhibition grounds in Prague's Holešovice burned down this morning. The replica of Elizabethan theatre, built in 1999, was completely destroyed by the fire. The Marold panorama and other structures standing in the immediate vicinity were not affected by the flames. According to available information, the fire did not cause any fatalities and no one was injured, said Vít Pernica, spokesman for the Prague firefighters.
The damage is estimated at 15 million crowns. The cause of the fire is not yet known, and due to the extent of the fire, it will likely be investigated for a long time and with difficulty, the spokesman stated.
Six units were deployed to fight the fire. When firefighters arrived at the scene, the theatre was completely engulfed in flames, so they concentrated primarily on protecting the structures in the immediate vicinity of the theatre - Křižík Pavilion "B" and Marold's panorama of the Battle of Lipany.
The fire was reported by the technical dispatcher's signaling system at 02:50, and five minutes later, the service informed the firefighters, who arrived at the scene at 03:02. The fire was contained within 45 minutes.
With the opening of the Globe Theatre, Prague became, in 1999, the third European city, after London and the German city of Neuss, to revive the unique theatrical space of the Elizabethan era. The authors of the uncoated but roofed wooden skeleton with extraordinary acoustic properties were architects Tomáš Kulík and Jindřich Smetana.
However, the theatre's activities were accompanied by financial and operational problems from the beginning. The biggest success was perhaps the production of Shakespeare's Richard III in 2001, directed by Vladimír Morávek with Pavel Zedníček and Miroslav Donutil in the title role. Difficulties intensified after the exhibition grounds were affected by floods in the summer of 2002, which also damaged the theatre. Recently, the stage was closed.