After 35 years since its opening, the Prague Kotva is looking for its place in the market

Prague - The Prague department store Kotva in Republic Square, one of the most interesting Czechoslovak buildings of the 1970s, has been struggling somewhat in recent years in the competition with more modern shopping centers. However, when it opened 35 years ago, on February 10, 1975, it was the most modern establishment of its kind in the republic, and it was not until two months later that the Máj on Národní Street began to compete with it. Shopping at Kotva was still an essential part of a trip to Prague long after 1989.
    In a competition announced by the management of the Prior department stores for the development of a vacant lot that had long been empty in the northern corner of the square, the design by the Machonin couple won in the late 1960s. They came up with an interesting solution - they constructed the whole building from self-supporting hexagonal segments, thus meeting the requirement for the largest possible sales area on a relatively small plot. Moreover, thanks to the chosen solution, the department store blends relatively well into the surrounding buildings.
    Vera and Vladimir Machonin, in the second half of the 1960s - before the normalizing power prevented them from further free creation - designed several other interesting buildings in addition to Kotva, which, however, were not always received unambiguously by the public or experts. Evaluations seem to be most divided in the case of the Thermal Hotel in Karlovy Vary; the Machonins also designed the massive building of the Czechoslovak embassy in East Berlin or the former House of Housing Culture near the Budějovická metro station.
    The Kotva department store, however, is generally received positively; architectural historian Zdeněk Lukeš even ranked it at the top of the ranking of socialist architecture in the Czech Republic several years ago. There have even been calls for the inclusion of Kotva on the list of cultural monuments, "even though its irregular shape introduces disorder into the medieval layout of Prague," as Lukeš's colleague Rostislav Švácha said. Unlike the nearby Máj, which has been officially a monument since October 2006, so far only efforts have been made in this regard.
    The architectural design of the department store came from a domestic environment, but the construction work was entrusted to the Swedish company Sial (the Swedes also built Máj). After an archaeological survey revealed the remains of a settlement belonging to the urban royal courtyard at the site of the future Kotva, the foundations began to be built in April 1972, which included space for a novelty - a large-capacity underground garage. The construction progressed at an incredibly fast pace for its time, and the department store was completed in just under 30 months.
    The grand opening of Kotva was not to be missed by the current leaders, alongside the eager customers who had to be held back by soldiers from the nearby barracks (which today is a competing shopping center, Palladium). The ribbon was cut by the powerful head of the Prague organization of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, Antonín Kapek, who was accompanied by Minister of Trade Josef Trávníček. There was no room for the authors of the building, as Vera and Vladimir Machonin had to be glad in the 1970s that they could at least perform author supervision on their constructions.
    Although customers were initially relatively disappointed that Kotva did not sell Swedish goods, as the widespread rumor suggested due to the country of origin of the construction company, they quickly grew fond of the department store. Republic Square became a popular destination for visitors to Prague, and the slogan "Kotva is here for you" (its author is writer and journalist Ondřej Neff) attracted over 70,000 people daily to shop. However, since the mid-1990s, interest in Kotva has gradually declined as various shopping centers have taken over the outskirts of Prague and beyond.
    The situation of the department store was not helped by the uncertainties surrounding who actually owned Kotva. In the second half of the 1990s, it was controlled by the investment fund Trend during coupon privatization, but after a change of owners, it lost the shares under suspicious circumstances. In the case, the courts even imposed several-year prison sentences. Better times began to shine for Kotva in March 2005 when the building was bought by the Irish company Markland, which is currently renovating the department store gradually while it is operational.