The competition for a new design of the roundabout will most likely be announced by České Budějovice in September

České Budějovice - The city of České Budějovice will announce an architectural competition for a new design of the revolving auditorium in Český Krumlov, as it owns the existing turntable, likely at the beginning of September. The nomination of jury members from UNESCO is awaited. Deputy Mayor Jaromír Talíř (KDU-ČSL) informed journalists after a meeting of the city council.
    At its last meeting, the council discussed extending the lease agreement with the National Heritage Institute for the lands in the castle garden until the end of 2017 and increasing the rent for them, as well as approving a reward for participants in the architectural competition who do not advance to the second round. The first round could possibly take place by the end of the year.
    "The city has prepared an amount of 715,000 crowns for the reward for those who do not advance to the next round of the competition, as part of budget measures," said Talíř to ČTK. It is expected that the competition will be announced at the end of the holidays, but rather at the beginning of September. The council also discussed extending the lease of lands in the garden of the Český Krumlov castle, where theater performances take place. "It specifies in it (in the contract) the use of the bellaria, which will undergo reconstruction starting next year, and the rent is increased by 200,000 to 2.2 million crowns," Talíř stated.
    According to him, the proposal for the task of the architectural competition has over 20 pages and has been discussed by jury members nominated from the Czech Republic, most recently with representatives of the Chamber of Architects. Now, they are waiting for nominations from UNESCO, which after the last inspection mission requested a place for its representatives in the jury. "That is why we cannot announce the competition yet," Talíř concluded.
    The competition will be open, and all proposals will be evaluated. The organizer of the competition appended a statement to its conditions, stating that it anticipates that the new revolving auditorium should be built in the baroque garden, but outside its axis.
    The city already applied for a grant for the new turntable in the IROP operational program last spring. The costs are estimated at 250 million crowns. The project considers replacing the fixed structure with a removable one. However, this can still change. If the city does not obtain the grant, it will not finance the construction itself.
    The state castle and chateau Český Krumlov, where the turntable is located, along with the city center, has been on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 1992. Heritage conservationists have been striving for years to remove the revolving auditorium from the garden. The former leadership of the Ministry of Culture originally promised UNESCO that the turntable would be removed by 2015.
    The UNESCO committee recently again recommended placing the stage outside the castle complex, but a solution with the auditorium inside the garden is also acceptable to them. The South Bohemian Theatre performs its plays in front of the turntable in the garden every summer. Over 55 years, more than two million spectators have seen performances from the revolving auditorium.