The Trade Fair Palace recovered from the fire half a century ago for 20 years

Prague – The Prague Trade Fair Palace, which today houses the collection of modern and contemporary art of the National Gallery, has experienced much over the past century. In the functionalist building, new developments from the worlds of industry and entertainment were first showcased – it was here that the Czech public could properly familiarize itself with television for the first time. However, from the 1950s onwards, the palace began to decline and was occupied by officials and merchants from several enterprises. Poorly executed adaptations contributed to a devastating fire that almost destroyed the building on August 14, 1974.

The Trade Fair Palace, a unique example of interwar functionalist architecture, was built according to the design of Josef Fuchs and Oldřich Tyla for the Prague Sample Trade Fair Company between 1925 and 1928. At the time, it astonished with its spaciousness and conception, as well as its rational approach. The palace, with eight above-ground and two underground floors, offered exhibition halls and a cinema, while the top floor featured a café and restaurant with a view of Prague. The building's design was also appreciated by the functionalism guru, architect Le Corbusier, during his visit to Prague in 1928.

Since the late 1940s, the importance of the palace as a venue for trade fairs has been declining. The building was gradually occupied by officials and merchants from foreign trade enterprises.

For many years, discussions have been ongoing about the reconstruction of the palace, which is also used as a storage facility for the gallery. Last year, however, Minister of Culture Martin Baxa stated that it makes no sense to invest larger sums into the Trade Fair Palace at this time, as its reconstruction will occur only after the construction of a new storage facility for the National Gallery in Jinonice. This is expected to cost over two billion crowns.

What was the main cause of the fire 50 years ago?

The partitions between individual offices were made of only particle board and plywood. This, together with the quantity of documents in the offices and inadequate fire safety measures, was the main reason why the architectural pride of Holešovice was engulfed in flames within a few dozen minutes. The initial cause of the fire was trivial. Lacquer workers in one room violated regulations and discarded cleaning cotton soaked in linseed oil onto a shelf instead of into a can, where it spontaneously ignited.

The smoke emanating from the fourth floor near the small hall was detected by a guard during her regular rounds before nine o'clock in the evening. Together with the on-duty electrician, they initially attempted to extinguish the fire themselves, but soon realized that they were not able to handle the blaze on their own. After half past nine, the Holešovice fire station received the report of the fire. It may have been a moment earlier, as the guard did not remember the emergency number 150, which had only been introduced in 1970, and searched for a number in a directory instead.

However, a few minutes would not have saved the Trade Fair Palace. When the first firefighters arrived from a station two kilometers away, at least 400 square meters were already in flames, and the fire was spreading through the corridors via the highly flammable partitions. Half an hour after the fire was reported, it was clear that controlling it would not be easy or quick. "The progress of the fire from 22:15 to 23:15 reached such proportions that it approached a firestorm," stated the book Fires in the Czech Lands.

With some luck, around half past ten, firefighters managed to rescue a group of six people from the roof; they also had to evacuate several hundred viewers who had come to the Trade Fairs cinema in the basement below the small hall to watch the thrilling American western Mackenna's Gold. Significant concerns also arose regarding the tanks of heating oil and, especially, the storage of weapons belonging to the People's Militia located in the palace. Nevertheless, the firefighters managed to prevent the fire from spreading to the southern part of the building.

Throughout the intervention, they had to deal with a lack of water. The water utilities were unable to sufficiently increase the pressure in the pipes, and the firefighters were left with no choice but to deploy a fireboat with a powerful pump to Štefánik Bridge (then Šverm's Bridge). A few minutes after the rescuers managed to extend almost a kilometer of hoses, an inattentive truck driver ran over them. And just when the firefighters were nearly able to subdue the fire, a hose burst again, this time due to material fatigue.

Thanks to the effort of the fireboat and nearly a hundred firefighters and soldiers, the flames ceased to spread after seven hours, in the early morning of August 15. The intensity of the flames is evident as charred documents from several foreign trade companies were blown as far as Karlín. Firefighters had to extinguish the hotspots inside the building for another five days, and they could definitively leave the almost completely destroyed Trade Fair Palace only on August 27. The sight of the once-majestic building, which was praised even by the famous Le Corbusier, was a sad one.

The palace was surrounded by a metal fence, and there were even discussions that the seriously damaged building would be best demolished. Ultimately, the situation did not lead to demolition, but for several years there were discussions about what to do with the Trade Fair Palace next. Plans for a hospital, dormitory, department store, or a return to office use emerged. Finally, at the very end of the 1970s, the National Gallery acquired the building. However, reconstruction only began in 1987, and the new exhibition hall welcomed visitors in December 1995.