A team of experts is preparing an architectural guide to Pilsen

Plzeň - A team of experts from several institutions has begun working on an architectural guide to Plzeň. The publication, which is currently missing for the metropolis unlike many other Czech cities, will map approximately 200 of the most significant buildings in Plzeň constructed from the 19th century to the present day. The aim of the guide is not only to highlight important objects but also to provide an opinion on how architecture in Plzeň has evolved over the past two centuries. This was stated by team leader Petr Domanický and director of the West Bohemian Gallery Roman Musil to ČTK.
    "The comprehensive encyclopedia will be intended for the general public as well as cultural tourists who want to explore Plzeň," Musil stated.
    According to Domanický, the guidebook will offer approximately 200 entries, or 200 of the most significant buildings constructed over the last 200 years, including those that no longer exist. "From the beginning of the 19th century, when for example the building of today’s scientific library was established, through the second half of the 19th century with the building of the former school above Hamburg, where today's court is located, to the very rich period around the turn of the century with objects such as the theater, the Municipal Society, the train station, ecclesiastical buildings in the suburbs, and so on," Domanický described.
    The guide will also capture the era of Art Nouveau, the interwar period, when numerous school buildings were erected, as well as the development of Denisovo nábřeží. The guide will also mention the post-war period, referencing housing estates from the 1950s, such as the oldest part around Francouzská třída in Slovany, and the 1960s with the winter stadium and others. "The most challenging period will, of course, be the 1970s and 1980s and also the current era, but we will try to select something from them as well," Domanický added.
    The Plzeň authors are taking inspiration from similar guidebooks that have recently been published in the Czech Republic and abroad while creating the new publication. "We are trying to draw inspiration not only in terms of content but also format," Domanický added.
    The project, supported by an EU grant, involves the West Bohemian Gallery, the West Bohemian Museum, Plzeň's conservationists, and workers from the municipal and regional state archives. The publication will be released by the Plzeň publishing house Nava. The new book is expected to be published in spring 2013. "Such a project, which will be the result of at least a year’s work, will also contribute to placing Plzeň on the cultural map of architectural monuments in the Czech Republic," Musil added.
    The guide will be complemented by photographs, taken by Plzeň photographer and historian Radovan Kodera.