HN: The Kaplický Library could get a chance, the only opposition is the ODS

Octopuses can lose several tentacles, which will regrow.

Prague - The proposal for a new National Library building by architect Jan Kaplický could, according to today's Hospodářské noviny (HN), get another chance. All political parties except the ODS are in favor of the construction, and the blob is also pleasing to the new Minister of Culture Jiří Besser. Furthermore, the widow of the architect, Eliška Kaplický, has secured significant British architect of Iraqi origin Zaha Hadid for collaboration on the project. However, the financing of the construction remains a problem.
According to HN, Kaplický's library could get a chance thanks to a "political breeze after the elections." The leadership of the capital, which includes members of the ODS, could change after the autumn elections. In the May parliamentary elections, the Civic Democrats were already defeated in Prague by TOP 09, which supports the construction.
"I will definitely write into the program that Prague will create territorial and planning conditions for the state to be able to realize this investment in the location where it was planned," said HN chairman of Prague's TOP 09, František Laudát. The project also has support from the Prague VV and ČSSD. Former deputy mayor and candidate for mayor for VV, Markéta Reedová, proposes that the blob could replace the dilapidated Congress Center at Vyšehrad.
The new Minister of Culture Besser is also in favor. "I really like Kaplický's blob, I do not like the location," the newspaper quotes Besser's statement to Radio Czech. According to ministry spokesperson Stanislav Bruclík, the main task is to build the structure; where it will stand is said to be a secondary question.
Therefore, according to HN, only the ODS rejects the construction. The chairman of the Prague ODS, Boris Šťastný, justified this by saying that experts pointed out that the project is uneconomical.
The main problem remains finance. The originally proposed building could, according to HN, cost more than four billion crowns. "I do not see room for such an investment in the next two years. But that does not mean that a solution should not be sought," said Minister of Finance Miroslav Kalousek to the newspaper.
However, if money can be raised, the project could be realized for Kaplický, who passed away last January, by the famous architect Zaha Hadid, a Pritzker Prize winner, which is considered the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in architecture. Hadid also chaired the international commission that evaluated the proposals for the new National Library building.
Kaplický's proposal won an architectural competition in March 2007, yet it has not been realized. President Václav Klaus and Prague politicians including Mayor Pavel Bém (ODS) opposed the library.