The Olomouc City Hall will replace the criticized lamps in the Upper Square

photo: Ester Havlová

Olomouc - The Olomouc City Hall has decided to replace the public lighting at the Upper Square after 12 years. The existing lamps, which were installed in this square in the historic center during its last extensive reconstruction, according to experts, do not provide sufficient lighting, a topic that sparked passionate debates immediately after their activation in 2001. However, the city hall's plan surprised architects who prepared the reconstruction project for Upper Square years ago and had no idea about the planned lamp replacement.
Mayor Martin Novotný (ODS) told reporters today that the new lighting will be installed at Upper Square after the reconstruction of the neighboring Lower Square is completed, which will be illuminated by Philips Urbanstar lamps from this summer. "We want to place the same lamps at Upper Square. They should provide better lighting parameters than the often criticized lamps currently installed there," said Novotný, according to whom the evening atmosphere at Upper Square currently has a "very unpleasant level of darkness."
The city hall plans to equip Upper Square with new lamps by next year at the latest, with the replacement of lighting costing several million crowns. The new lamps emit much more light than the originals, but they should not disrupt the original concept, which emphasizes the illumination of the historic buildings lining Upper Square. "According to the light model we had created, the light intensity at Lower Square should be up to five times greater than that currently at Upper Square," the mayor added.
Architect Petr Hájek, who is a co-author of the reconstruction project for Upper Square, told ČTK today that he knows nothing about the planned lamp replacement. "I do not understand at all why we as the authors (of the Upper Square reconstruction project) were not informed by the city's leadership about this intention, so we had no opportunity to express our views. I will write a letter to them (the city leadership) protesting this procedure," said Hájek.
According to Hájek, the city hall must first obtain the consent of the authors of the reconstruction project for Upper Square before proceeding with the planned lamp replacement. "There could be a violation of copyright, which we hold for this space," warned Hájek, who wants to sit down with the city leadership at the negotiating table. "If they want to install any type of lighting against our will that could damage the project, we will, of course, defend ourselves," he warned.
After long discussions among architects and heritage experts, Thorn lamps have been standing at Upper Square since 2001, which, according to Hájek, was a compromise. The creators of the Upper Square reconstruction project originally advocated for a different, more modern type of lighting, but this was not liked by some council members and heritage experts at the time. Hájek believes that the discussion about whether to install the originally proposed lamps at Upper Square could be reopened now.
The city hall paid nine million crowns for 33 Thorn lamps 12 years ago. The weak light at the square during the trial operation in March 2001 blinded security cameras for the guards. The city hall then had to buy new cameras for 400,000 crowns. Experts later measured the light intensity and confirmed that the lamps were not bright enough.