In the mills in Pardubice, the conversion into a gallery continues

Pardubice – The renovation of part of the automatic mills in Pardubice into a gallery has been ongoing for seven months; the work is progressing according to schedule and will be completed in 16 months. The investor is the Pardubice Region, which will relocate the East Bohemian Gallery there, said Deputy Governor Roman Línek (Coalition for Pardubice Region) to journalists today.

"We all look forward to the moment when a clean building with a varied facade and a transition to the silo emerges from the confines of the annexes, evoking the Ishtar Gate in ancient Babylon," said Línek.

The regional authority is renovating the most valuable part of the complex, where the production took place. The building was designed by architect Josef Gočár and is a national cultural monument. The construction consortium of Metrostav and Chládek a Tintěra first dismantled the preserved milling technology. The renovated pieces will return to the exhibition areas as exhibits. The chutes for flour will be from the outside as well.

The construction phase will last until April 2022. Then the gallery will move, which will likely take until Christmas. "We are on schedule. The original underlying concrete was uncovered, and it turned out that the load-bearing structures are different from what was expected. Once we uncover the roof in the spring, we may encounter more surprises," said construction manager Jaroslav Sýkora from Metrostav to ČTK.

"The project of the gallery is well prepared. There are other projects that have poor surveys, which leads to delays because they have to be redesigned," said David Stříteský, regional director of Metrostav, to ČTK.

Workers will mainly be demolishing throughout the winter, with finishing work slated for spring. "To an outsider, the state only looks worse because you are either demolishing or reinforcing structures; it looks optically worse than at the beginning," said Stříteský.

According to the builders, the mills are beautiful industrial buildings that are no longer being constructed today. "All the halls today are the same, prefabricated reinforced concrete structures with cladding. Nowadays, it's all about money, and the most rational buildings are being made," said Stříteský.

The building will continue to have exposed brickwork and an industrial patina. Workers have already removed the modern outdoor staircase from the old building. "The windows will brighten the construction a bit. The historical windows will return, but they will only have modified electric opening. Behind them, there will be full-fledged windows with double glazing," said architect Petr Všetečka, one of the authors of the design.

The investment will cost the region 373 million crowns, with 110 million crowns from EU funds and 13 million crowns from national sources. The region and the city of Pardubice purchased part of the mills from the Smetana couple, with local governments spending 36.5 million crowns on them. The mills have not produced anything since 2013. Pardubice had no interest in the entire complex and did not accept the purchase offer.