The Ministry will not open the matter of declaring the Libeň Bridge a monument

Prague - The Ministry of Culture will not reopen the question of declaring the Libeň Bridge in Prague as a cultural monument. Former minister Ilja Šmíd (for ANO) deferred the proposals from the National Heritage Institute (NPÚ) and the association Prázdné domy against the ministry's February decision, which stated that the bridge is not a monument. According to Šmíd, the ministry sufficiently clarified the reasons for not declaring the bridge a monument in its decision and does not suffer from any defects that could lead to the decision being revoked or altered. This was communicated today by the ministry's spokesperson Simona Cigánková in response to a CTK inquiry. The bridge is in poor condition and was closed for six weeks this year due to the need to support its structures.

"The main reason why it was not possible to comply with the proposals, i.e., to initiate a review process and change the disputed decision, is therefore the technical condition of the bridge, which is specifically documented in the technical report from the Klokner Institute. The architecturally most valuable part of the bridge, which spans the river, is the most damaged. The conclusions of the expert report indicate that at least 50 percent of the bridge's structure would need to be replaced, which is a significant loss of authenticity for a building that is less than 100 years old," stated Cigánková.

According to the ministry, the bridge also does not reach the historical value of, for example, the Negrelli Viaduct or Charles Bridge. In its assessment, the ministry considered the public interest in ensuring transport links across the Vltava River, safety, and the bridge's load-bearing capacity. The bridge, built in 1928, was designed for a lifespan of approximately 50 years, according to Cigánková. The ministry supports the idea of building a replica of the bridge that will meet current load-bearing and lifespan requirements.

The NPÚ and the association that wishes to preserve the bridge refer to the analysis by experts from Klokner Institute of the Czech Technical University, which studied the bridge for a year, from a different perspective. Heritage officials previously stated that the analysis is evidence that the bridge can be preserved if a comprehensive reconstruction is carried out. According to the NPÚ, in similar cases, the damaged part is replaced with a new one that resembles the old, thus preserving the essence of the monument and its use for its original purpose.

Heritage officials and associations were not participants in the proceedings regarding the declaration of the bridge as a monument; the participants are the capital city, the transport company, the Technical Administration of Communications, and Czech Ports. For this reason, any further proceedings should not have a suspensive effect on the earlier decision, and the owner can manage the bridge according to their intentions from the moment the February decision became legally effective.

However, Prague politicians did not agree on whether to repair the bridge or replace it with a new one. The April city council meeting regarding the dispute over the bridge resulted in a coalition crisis between the ANO movement and the ČSSD on one side, and the Trio Coalition (Green Party, Christian Democrats, STAN), which advocates for the preservation of the bridge, on the other.

Since the bridge was put into operation in 1928, its load-bearing structure has never been repaired. The architects of the Libeň Bridge are Pavel Janák and František Mencl.