Kaplický's design for the NK building has evoked emotions from the start

    "Kaplický's design is bold, surprising, original, energy-efficient, and surely controversial... Now the conservative preservationists will have their say, and a lively performance about the future of modern architecture in Prague will begin. I am known as a supporter of bold solutions." (ČTK, March 2, 2007 - here>)

    "As mayor, I was a member of the international jury, but I did not like the location of Kaplický's blob from the very beginning and I never voted for it. Kaplický's design is in such an arrogant disharmony with its immediate and distant surroundings that it cannot be compared in terms of urban impact with, for example, the Dancing House." (MfD, October 15, 2007 - here>)

Former President Václav Havel:

    "It is strange and perhaps symptomatic that the Czech public... is silent about monuments of banality, such as the new building on Karlovo náměstí or the building at the corner of Václavské náměstí and 28. října street opposite the Koruna Palace... And when someone proposes an interesting, original building once every ten years, then there is an uproar in the village." (ČTK, May 15, 2007 - here>)

Architect Eva Jiřičná, chairwoman of the jury:

    "Where is it written that politicians are the referees in the clash of aesthetic ideas? ... Politicians should reflect on themselves, and let young people decide about the library." (LN, October 11, 2007)

Architect Jan Kaplický:

    "One political party dictates the opinion on culture, and we have experienced that for 40 years, at least in my life, and I think that is a great mistake... What they find objectionable, no one has been able to say." (Czech Television, October 11, 2007)

President Václav Klaus:

    "Mr. Kaplický's artifact seems to me incredibly arrogant, capricious, even audacious... For me, Mr. Kaplický's building is ugly, and I do not think it is because it is a non-Art Nouveau, non-Cubist, non-Functionalist building. I do not like it in itself." (MfD, May 9, 2007)

Mayor of Prague 13 and Prague councilor David Vodrážka (ODS):

    "A momentary shame among a narrow group of people is worth it for, let's say, some kind of blob not to arise over Prague." (TV Nova, October 13, 2007)

Basic information about the new National Library building:

• The building from architect Jan Kaplický's studio is to be located in Letná at the site of the current tram loop. According to original plans, construction was to be completed by autumn 2011, with a cost of around two billion crowns.
• The new library is to house collections from the early 19th century to the present, providing space for ten million volumes, which is a reserve for about fifty years.
• The building is 48 meters tall and has nine floors. In addition to library collections, the unconventional building is to include a café, restaurant, study rooms, and a multipurpose hall. Visitors are to have around 2000 seats in the library, and it is to employ about 300 people.
• Most of the collections are to be located underground, with an automated robotic system responsible for the transportation of books. However, the original competition did not permit the placement of collections underground, and critics claim that both Kaplický and the jury violated its conditions.
• Kaplický denies that he did not fulfill the competition brief. The competition results were also backed by members of the jury, which included architects Eva Jiřičná (chairwoman) and Zaha Hadid, library director Vlastimil Ježek, and the head of Prague's preservationists Jan Kněžínek (as a representative of Mayor Bém).
• In recent days, there have been reports that ODS councilors, who hold a majority in the Prague city hall, are rejecting the sale of land needed for the library's construction. Therefore, possible solutions for the complicated situation are being considered, speculations include moving the "blob" to another location in Prague or even launching a new competition.