The reconstruction of the National Museum is delayed

Prague - The reconstruction of the historic building of the National Museum in Prague is delayed; it was supposed to begin last year. The building has been empty since July 2011, but the repairs have not yet started. There is a risk that even the latest deadline for reopening, which is 2018, when the museum will celebrate its 200th anniversary, will not be met.
The winner of the public contract for the reconstruction - the M-P-I National Museum Consortium, whose participants are Metrostav, Průmstav, and IMOS Brno, has been known since mid-October 2014. Its bid price of 1.352 billion CZK excluding VAT was evaluated by the selection committee as the most favorable. "We cannot conclude a contract with the winner yet; we are waiting for a decision from the antimonopoly office," said museum director Michal Lukeš to ČTK today.
"The first-instance proceedings regarding the reconstruction of the National Museum building in Prague are still ongoing," said Martin Švanda, spokesman for the Office for the Protection of Competition, in response to ČTK today. According to the schedule, the winner of the tender was supposed to start work last year, and the construction period is estimated at 42 months.
The selection procedure was challenged last summer by the Václavské náměstí 68 Consortium, whose leading participant is Strabag. This occurred after they were excluded from the competition for failing to meet the conditions while preparing their bid price. They initially filed an objection and then a complaint to the antimonopoly office to review the legitimacy of their exclusion.
The preparatory phase of the reconstruction ended at the beginning of 2013 and cost 548 million CZK. This covered the costs of relocation, remediation, storage in Terezín, and modifications of the building of the former Federal Assembly. Project work on the reconstruction began in 2010. In the second half of 2012, the museum obtained a building permit. The government approved the announcement of the tender for the contractor for the reconstruction in the form of an open selection procedure on April 10, 2013, and the envelopes containing bids from applicants were opened in November 2013.
The NM reconstruction project includes not only new exhibitions but also rest areas and spaces for working with school trips. The building will be barrier-free. Visitors will descend from the vestibule to the newly built facilities in the basement, consisting of cloakrooms and restrooms. On the ground floor, they will have access to a museum café, shop, and children's corner in the left-covered courtyard. The covered hall on the right side will offer a permanent exhibition with suspended large-scale exhibits. Short-term exhibitions will be held in five exhibition halls and restored lecture halls on the ground floor.
The pantheon on the first floor will continue to commemorate significant men and women of Czech science, social life, and art. In the remaining halls, visitors will find the first part of the new permanent exhibition, and on the second floor, there will be an interactive center for students and youth. At the end of the tour, they will ascend to the dome, from where they will see the panorama of the historical center of Prague and Prague Castle. Elevators to the second basement will lead them to the connecting corridor with the new building, where they will find more permanent exhibitions, exhibitions, and spaces for concerts.