Zaorálek will present a proposal to the government for the new construction of the National Library

Prague – Minister of Culture Lubomír Zaorálek (ČSSD) will present a document to the government, which after more than ten years will again propose the construction of a new building for the National Library. The reason is the insufficient spatial capacities of the library, similar to the previous unsuccessful attempt. Michaela Lagronová, spokeswoman for the ministry, informed ČTK. According to her, the document is prepared, but the date for its presentation to the cabinet is not yet known. The minister is also negotiating with Prague Mayor Zdeněk Hřib (Pirates) about identifying a possible location for the library's construction.

According to the spokeswoman, it is premature to talk about whether Prague would provide its land or if it would participate in the construction in another way. It is also unclear whether the project could be prepared by the end of the election term. Any new government resolution on the intention to build the library would only be the first step towards it. The recently presented National Investment Plan also anticipates the new library building. Since taking office in 2017, the current director of the National Library, Martin Kocanda, has mentioned the need for a new building. He believes the current capacity of the library will suffice until approximately 2040.

The necessity of constructing a new building for the National Library was first discussed in 2005 by its then-director Vlastimil Ježek. He led the idea to an international architectural competition won by Jan Kaplický. However, part of the politicians and the public did not accept his futuristic proposal; the format of the competition and the method of selecting the construction site also had their critics, and the construction, for which the state had already allocated over two billion crowns, was abandoned. Instead, the depositories in Hostivař were repaired and completed, and books are transported daily between Klementinum in the center of Prague and the outskirts of the city. The baroque complex of Klementinum has been under renovation for over ten years, and the final phase, costing one billion crowns, is several years behind schedule.

Librarians have been discussing the need for a new building for several years, and Zaorálek has done so since taking office at the end of August last year. In an interview with ČTK at that time, he stated that he believes the state has long been asleep regarding the solution of space for cultural institutions and also in the effort or willingness to come up with something that would represent contemporary architecture. "I still regret that a library building based on Jan Kaplický's design was not created," he said. He regrets that Prague gave up, and he believes that today people would like the futuristic building – similar to how they embraced the Philharmonic building in Hamburg, which was criticized and condemned during its inception.

If the state decided to revive Kaplický's project, it is theoretically possible. Kaplický's wife stated last year that in such a case, she would transfer the copyright of the project to the library. However, it is from 2007, and the technical solutions considered at that time may already be outdated.