NPÚ rejected that the declaration of the main train station hall as a monument was opportunistic

Prague - The National Heritage Institute (NPÚ) has denied that it registered the new terminal building of Prague's main train station in the cultural heritage catalog purposefully in connection with the proposed modifications to the station, which involve demolishing a large part of it. The institute stated this in a press release today in response to a joint statement from the capital city, the Czech Railways Administration (SŽ), and the Prague Public Transit Company. According to the NPÚ, the amendment in the catalog was carried out at the behest of the Ministry of Culture, which considers the terminal building to be monumentally protected along with the Fantova building.

SŽ, the Prague City Hall, and the transit company were the three institutions that announced a competition last year for the design of the reconstruction of the new terminal building, the tram line planned from Vinohradská around the station to Bolzanova Street, and modifications to the adjacent Vrchlického Gardens. The winning proposal received criticism, and subsequently, the Ministry of Culture stated that the new terminal is a cultural monument. Until then, it had not been listed in the heritage catalog.

All three organizers of the competition issued a joint statement last Friday, in which they labeled the actions of the heritage experts as non-standard and appearing to be opportunistic. "Representatives of the NPÚ confirmed to us at a meeting before the announcement of the competitive dialogue the fact that the new terminal building is not a registered monument,” they stated. According to their statement, the Ministry of Culture informed them that it considers the building to be protected only in the final phase of the competitive dialogue on the station's reconstruction.

Today, the NPÚ stated that the Ministry of Culture decides on monuments, according to which the new building is subject to the heritage protection of the Art Nouveau Fantova building as it is an extension of it. For this reason, the NPÚ's statement added, the ministry did not initiate proceedings to declare the terminal a cultural monument, as the institute requested last March. "This interpretation is respected by the NPÚ, and at the request of the ministry, it has also currently made an amendment in the Heritage Catalog (Central List of Cultural Monuments)," the institute stated today. It added that the catalog is merely an informational database.

The NPÚ also communicated that if the protection of the new terminal is disputed because it is listed as a separate structure in the cadastre, it will again apply the already prepared and submitted proposal for declaration as a monument. According to it, this was also mentioned in the tender documentation for the modifications to the station. "The National Heritage Institute has been aware from the beginning of the exceptional architectural and heritage values of the new terminal building and has pointed them out both in its research projects and during the competitive dialogue on the so-called 'New Hlavák'," the heritage experts stated.

In the international competition for the transformation of the new terminal, adjacent Vrchlického Gardens, and the design of the planned tram stop in front of the station, the proposal by the Copenhagen studio Henning Larsen Architects was successful. The dominant element of the design is a large wooden structure that is to arch over the new terminal building towards the Vrchlického Gardens. At the same time, a large part of the terminal is to be removed, while the part located under the thoroughfare is to be preserved.

The proposal published last Monday received criticism, and an online petition was created against it. Petitioners demand the preservation of the terminal designed by architects Jan Bočan, Josef Danda, Alena Šrámková, Jan Šrámek, and Julie Trnková, which they believe is a significant representative of architecture from the 1970s and 1980s.