The capital has started the renovation of the House of Pages, the residence of the Museum of Memory of the 20th Century

Prague - The capital city has begun the reconstruction of the House of Pages, the residence of the Museum of Memory of the 20th Century in Hradčany. The repair is expected to cost about 71.69 million CZK and should be completed in a year. The city is also currently looking for a designer for the permanent exhibition through a tender. This was announced today to journalists by deputy mayor and MEP Jiří Pospíšil (TOP 09), councilor, senator, and chairwoman of the museum's board Hana Kordová Marvanová (independent, elected for Together), museum director Petr Blažek, and architect Tomáš Hradečný. The work will be carried out by the company Subterra. The museum was founded by Prague in 2019.

"The contract with the contractor has already been signed and the company is starting the reconstruction. I hope that we will acquire the repaired building in a historically short time, in which we will open the museum's exhibition. We are now also starting to tender for the contractor of the permanent exhibition," said Pospíšil.

In the past, the house served various purposes including an orphanage, a nursery, a kindergarten, and a young technicians' station, and since the 1970s, it housed the municipal department of the chief architect. "Structurally, the building is in quite good condition, but we cannot speak of the authenticity of the space," said Hradečný.

On the ground floor, there will be four rooms for the permanent exhibition and one for temporary exhibitions. The upper floor will include a small library supplemented by a research room and several offices. "The number of offices is minimal. The vast majority of the space will be open to the public," said Blažek. The largest space will be a multifunctional hall for almost a hundred listeners.

The attic will be restored, housing technological facilities and a deposit room, as well as a cellar and a small garden. The gallery will be expanded, which was previously narrowed and is not easily passable.

The museum's exhibition will also reflect in the design of the ground floor and the courtyard. Niches will be created here for showcasing exhibits. The niches will be located where city planners had proposed garage entrances. A new courtyard pavement will be constructed, and heating, air conditioning, and electrical installations will also be repaired.

During the renovation in the 1970s, wooden structures and beams were removed and replaced with steel beams, along with some vaults. The beams in the building will remain. "Our ambition is to restore the spatial logic and connections between spaces, rather than returning to some formal historical appearance," said the architect.

City representatives are currently discussing the financing of the museum with its management. The city administration should not be the sole financier, but funding should be multi-sourced. According to Pospíšil, the museum has already managed to secure some funds from other sources, and financial pluralism will strengthen the museum's independence. Marvanová stated that the state should also be involved in its operation. "Prague is doing something that the state should be doing, and we are partially supplementing it here. This is not a Prague initiative, but the government should support it," she said. She also emphasized that similar museums have been operating for a long time in Poland, Hungary, and Germany.

The establishment of the museum was approved by Prague councilors in September 2019, and it formally came into existence on November 17, 2019, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution. The museum has already acquired several exhibits for its collections, but it does not yet have a permanent exhibition. The House of Pages is intended to be a temporary residence, and in the future, according to previous statements from city management members, the institution could be relocated to the Strahov Stadium, for example.