Prague has a project for the Museum of Memory of the 20th Century, which is set to open within two years

Prague – The Prague City Hall has a project for the reconstruction and transformation of the House of Pages in Hradčany, where a permanent exhibition of the Museum of Memory of the 20th Century is expected to be established within two years. This was announced to journalists today by representatives of the city hall and the museum. From today, an exhibition that introduces the future exhibition can be seen in cell number 17 on the Smíchov riverside. The Prague riversides also officially opened the season today.

"As of today, we can state that we have all the opinions of the relevant authorities and organizations on the construction project, so in the coming days we will be requesting the initiation of the building permit process," said architect Tomáš Hradečný regarding the project of transforming the House of Pages. The originally Renaissance palace will feature exhibition spaces, a hall for lectures, a library, and a room for recording testimonies from witnesses.

The costs of the reconstruction are estimated by Prague councilor Jan Chabr (TOP 09) to be around 50 million crowns and should be completed within two years. Councilor Hana Marvanová (for STAN) added that she has also requested a meeting with Minister of Culture Martin Baxa (ODS) regarding the state's participation in the memory museum project. "If the state were to get involved, we could consider an even larger exhibition," she said. She added that a large exhibition involving more institutions could be created at the Strahov Stadium.

The opening of the exhibition today in one of the reconstructed cells in the embankment wall also kicked off the season on the Prague riversides. According to the director of the Museum of Memory of the 20th Century, Jan Kalous, events will take place in cell number 17 in the following week, including a discussion with Ukrainianist David Svoboda on Wednesday and a presentation by the Platform of European Memory and Conscience on Thursday.

This season, various events will take place on the Prague riversides, such as the ARENA festival by the Forman brothers, the Prague Primator’s race, the Prague Biennale, the Signal festival, or fishing and wine festivals.

The establishment of the Museum of Memory of the 20th Century was approved by Prague councillors in September 2019. It was formally established on November 17, 2019, to mark the 30th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution. Its task is to remind people of the crimes of totalitarian regimes in the Czech lands. "Russia's aggression against Ukraine and the war crimes committed there by the Russian army and Putin's regime remind us that totalitarianism is very close to us and that we must not forget those crimes and their victims," Marvanová said today.