Repairs to the Prague Exhibition Grounds will begin this year and will last approximately five years

Prague - This year, repairs will begin on the Exhibition Grounds in Holešovice. The reconstruction concerns the Lapidarium building, which is used by the National Museum, the outer shell of the Industrial Palace, and repairs will begin on the Křižík Pavilions. Martin Kala, chairman of the board of the company Development Projects Prague, which has leased the site, said this at today’s press conference. According to the councilor for culture, Jan Wolf, the repair of the entire area will take four to five years and will cost approximately 1.5 billion crowns.
    The amount will come from the budget of the capital city, with 110 million crowns allocated for the initial repairs and project documentation this year. "The Exhibition Grounds are in a deplorable state," Wolf said today. "Since 2008, when the left wing of the palace burned down, not a single crown has been invested in it," he added. The reconstruction of the burned part of the monument, which will serve in the future for social events and as a congress hall, will begin in 2017.
    During the fire in 2008, the western wing of the Industrial Palace was destroyed. The total damage from the fire is estimated at more than one billion crowns.
    The situation around the Exhibition Grounds, which is a protected monument, has been addressed by Prague for many years. The city leadership was previously released from a long-term and, according to some opinions, unfavorable lease agreement with the company Incheba. However, this company will continue to hold some events at the Exhibition Grounds until 2018. Therefore, according to Kala, a long-term plan and utilization schedule for the site has not yet been established. "For the next four years, we are limited by the contract with Incheba, which has contracts for specific dates for its exhibitions. We will try to develop the site, but we are constrained by this," he stated in response to a query from ČTK.
    The Exhibition Grounds by Stromovka was established in 1891 on the occasion of the Jubilee Land Exhibition. The area suffered extensive damage during the flood in 2002. Some buildings will be demolished due to their poor condition, such as the circular Spirala theater is being discussed.