Writers want to preserve Masaryk Station, they would place art there

Prague - The Writers' Guild is asking Prague Mayor Pavel Bém (ODS) not to disrupt Masaryk Station. The city council approved a change in the zoning plan in August that allows construction in the station area. Since then, many have expressed concerns about the fate of the station from both transportation and architectural perspectives.
    The writers propose to the mayor that if the station ceases to serve transportation, it should have a cultural use. According to them, a collection of Jiří Karasek of Lvov could be displayed there. The guild informed the mayor of their idea in an open letter, which was also sent to ČTK.
    The intention of the Prague councilors has sparked controversy, even though there has been talk of a significant interest from developers in land in the city center for years. According to the councilors, the current state of the station obstructs the development of the city. Prague would therefore like to transform the current track layout into a park surrounded by new buildings.
    However, they insist that if the station were to be closed, it should not be done without compensation. People from Central Bohemia are afraid that their trains would end up on the outskirts rather than in the center after Masaryk Station is closed.
    Masaryk Station is the busiest station for Prague's rail connections and is also the oldest station in Prague, with the first train arriving on August 20, 1845. The Empire architecture of the station, with elements of neo-Renaissance and Classicism, has largely remained unchanged. It is therefore an exceptional historical, technical, and cultural monument from the beginnings of railway transport in the Czech lands.
    The intention to change the purpose of the station area has outraged the Writers' Guild. They state that although they are not competent to assess how this decision will affect transport in Prague, they are convinced that the closure of the station would be an irreplaceable cultural loss.
    Should the station be closed, the Writers' Guild proposes to transform the entire complex into a gallery instead of an uniform shopping center, citing the Paris Musée d'Orsay, which was created from a decommissioned railway station and is among the most significant galleries in Paris. According to the writers, the permanent exhibition of Jiří Karasek's collection from Lvov (1871 to 1951) could be housed in the spaces of the Prague station.
    The decadent writer and collector amassed 38,000 works of art, a library of 48,000 volumes, and over 20,000 archival documents. He dedicated half a century of his life and nearly all his money to his collecting activities. He wanted to create a modern institution for the study of visual arts and literature.
    He donated the collection to the Sokol organization, which made it accessible for several decades at the Tyrš House. Since 1954, it has been part of the Memorial of National Literature. A place was found for the books in the Hvězda villa, but the works of art do not have a permanent exhibition. The collection was presented to the public seven years ago at the exhibition "A Dream of the Empire of Beauty" in the Municipal House.
    Whether the collection could be exhibited in industrial spaces or possibly the former station is unclear. The core part of the collection of works of art consists of graphic prints and other paper works, some of which are several centuries old, subject to strict exhibition conditions.