<Nádraží Vyšehrad> served transportation between the years 1872 and 1960, now it is deteriorating

Prague - The business card of the Prague-Vyšehrad railway station, whose dilapidated building has been seized due to unpaid fines and is likely to go to auction:

- The station in the Prague district of Vyšehrad was built in 1872 on the so-called Prague connecting railway between the Main and Smíchov stations and was put into operation on September 15 of that year. The impressive Art Nouveau building was constructed between 1904 and 1905 according to the design of Antonín Balšánek, a co-author of the Municipal House. However, at the end of May 1960, the station ceased to serve traffic and has deteriorated since then, although it was designated as a cultural monument, along with the wooden waiting room. The waiting room was illegally demolished in 2008, and in 2014, the switch station was also dismantled, and the tracks came under the jurisdiction of the Prague-Smíchov railway station.

- The station, the demolished waiting room, and the signal house were declared a monument in 2000. At that time, several interested parties were interested in purchasing the building. In 2001, for example, a project for a multicultural center with a bookstore, cafes, a gallery, a bar, and a cinema emerged. However, this did not succeed, and the ideas for reviving the station's operations were thwarted by new regulations prohibiting the establishment of a station in a curve (i.e., in a gentle bend). In 2007, the Prague 2 city council also expressed interest in the building and offered a project for a cultural and social center. The estimated repair costs at that time were around 100 million crowns.

- In 2007, Czech Railways sold the building and its surroundings for the highest offered price (42.5 million crowns) to the company TIP Estate, backed by Wall Street Commercial Bank from the town of Veneta in Oregon. In 2008, the company illegally cut down surrounding poplars, linden trees, and bushes, and subsequently demolished the half-timbered waiting room. Heritage officials imposed a fine of 100,000 crowns on them for this act. Later, the company, now restructured as RailCity Vyšehrad, promised another study for the use of the crumbling monument.

- Representatives of the Prague city hall began negotiations last March with the foreign owner of the Vyšehrad station regarding the possible purchase or exchange of the historic building. However, the negotiations were unsuccessful, and the city hall began to consider expropriation. Prague's councilor for property, Jan Chabr (TOP 09), stated that the owner either demanded too high a price or sought to exchange building land, with which the city hall already has other plans.

- In mid-October 2020, it was announced that the roof of the Vyšehrad station began to collapse, the building is in a deplorable state, and the owner is not investing in it. Subsequently, Prague 2 filed a criminal complaint against the private owner due to the poor condition of the station, suspecting him of general endangerment. The building authority of Prague 2 ordered the owner, among other things, to secure the building against climatic influences, particularly to cover the roof. RailCity Vyšehrad stated that the roof did not collapse, but someone intentionally damaged it. At the end of October, it was revealed that part of the building's roof, which city representatives claimed had collapsed, had been dismantled by unknown perpetrators.

- The intent of Prague 2 to repair the Vyšehrad station and initiate expropriation proceedings has also been supported by the Czech National Committee of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS). Assuming that the purchase of the property cannot be negotiated, according to representatives of this institution, the preservation of the object is a priority since it is part of a UNESCO monument (as part of the historic core of Prague). The expropriation was recommended to the state and the capital by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and ICOMOS headquarters, according to the spokesperson for the Czech National Committee of ICOMOS, Jan Štoll, back in March 2019.

- In March of this year, information emerged that the city was negotiating with the owner of the station regarding the possibility of exchanging the heritage-protected building for municipal land in Dolní Počernice designated for the construction of family houses. The object is currently owned through the company RailCity Vyšehrad by a Cypriot company MIQUELIRA LIMITED, but the ultimate owner is not officially known. The court decided on the execution in mid-June, and the execution order was issued by the judicial executor on July 14. The owners can still request the cessation of execution or pay the owed amount, which has been estimated at around 14.2 million crowns. According to earlier information from the city hall, the owners received five fines, of which they only paid one.

- If the property is acquired by Prague, the Slav Epic by Alfons Mucha could be placed there after reconstruction. Prague 2 is also interested in this. The station is among seven locations that the city is currently considering for the placement of the cycle.