The adjustments to Victory Square are estimated to cost half a billion CZK

Prague - The competition for the appearance of the Victory Square in Prague 6 has its winner. The center of Victory Square in Prague 6 will be opened to the public and will be adorned with trees, trams will run along the western side of the square, and there will be underground garages beneath the square. The estimated costs for the modifications to the square, which could start in five years, are 500 million crowns. This was announced today by Marek Vácha, spokesperson for the Institute of Planning and Development (IPR), in response to a query from ČTK.

The best proposal was prepared by Pavel Hnilička, Eva Macková, and Josef Filip. The jury, which included architects as well as representatives of the city and the municipal district, positively evaluated the placement of trees that separate the road from the center of the square, which will be accessible to pedestrians through a new subway exit and crosswalks. The roundabout will have three lanes. The proposal includes underground garages on the northwestern side of the square.

In the center of the square, there will be an obelisk, which was also in the original plans by Antonín Engel, who designed the square in the 1920s. According to the jury, the appearance of the monument should be determined by an art competition. The memorial to foreign soldiers of World War II will be moved to Technical Street.

"The next step is to contact the author of the winning proposal for further development of the conceptual study. In it, potential comments can be incorporated and the proposal can be specified. After that, further subsequent phases of the project will be addressed," Vácha told ČTK, adding that according to rough estimates, work on the modifications to the square could begin in five years.

A total of 43 proposals were submitted to the architectural competition for the new appearance of Victory Square in Prague 6, of which three were disqualified due to late submissions. The authors of six proposals were teams from abroad, including from Serbia, Sweden, Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands. Five proposals advanced to the finals.

The subject of the competition was to address traffic issues and arrange the square to make it safer for residents. The main problems of the square include heavy traffic load and unclear intersections between vehicular and pedestrian traffic. One of the guidelines was for architects to respect the original plan of architect Engel.

Victory Square was established in 1925 and currently serves as the terminus for several roads - Evropská, Čs. armády, Jugoslávských partyzánů, Svatovítská, and Dejvická. Throughout its history, it has had several names, including from 1952 to 1990, it was named October Revolution. Among Prague residents, it has colloquially been referred to as Kulaťák.