Press released
THE PRICE FOR PRESERVING THE ŽIŽKOV FREIGHT STATION WOULD BE TOO HIGH FOR ALL OF US
Prague, May 4, 2011 – The Analytic Committee of the Ministry of Culture, set up by the Minister Jiří Besser, will issue its statement regarding the conservation of the Freight Station Žižkov this week. The final decision is then in the hands of the Minister. Civic initiatives pressing on the conservation don’t regard the fact that the area can’t be revitalized in a suitable way. That has been confirmed by the famous architect Eva Jiřičná.
The internet petition to conserve the railway station was signed by thousands of people, mostly residents of Praha 3. Their point is that the Freight Railway Station is a unique functionalist building. The chairwoman of the Club for Old Prague, Kateřina Bečková, even said: “As a industrial monument, it has the same value as the National Theater in its category.” However, Dr. Luděk Sekyra, Chairman of the Board of Sekyra Group, opposes: “To compare the Freight Railway Station Žižkov to the National Theater is, in our opinion, highly inappropriate. The historic value of the building is questionable, and it can’t be fully used and maintained in the present conditions.”
Revitalization of the Freight Railway Station area
The Freight Railway Station Žižkov will be revamped to the modern residential neighborhood Žižkov City, offering good quality housing in the greenery for about 15,000 people. Apart from residential houses, the area will also feature offices and a commercial center. Sekyra Group and Czech Railways have together established the developer company Žižkov Station Development that will realize the project.
The conservation of the Freight Railway Station Žižkov area was also questioned by the famous international architect Eva Jiřičná. She has stated that it’s only fragments of the existing railway station that can be preserved. She said literally: “It seems unlikely to me that the building, designed in the early 20th century mainly for storage purposes and built with very limited structural system, could be used for commercial, cultural, administrative or other purposes in the full existing form, unless there are large funds provided by the government or other institutions. From the commercial standpoint, such a solution is very unlikely. Existing commercial facilities near the Freight Railway Station Žižkov must be considered, and so do the requirements resulting from the new project. I don’t think the requirements of the Conservation Committee, as presently stated, can be met; they bring about the risk of the total decay of existing buildings and long delay of regeneration of this part of Prague.”
This confirms the former assessment of Professor Vladimíra Šlapeta, who stated that the Freight Railway Station building isn’t any special in the context of similar European industrial buildings of its era, and that there were similar buildings in Prague as well. In his assessment, Professor Šlapeta highlights the global trend that capitals all over the world use former railway stations for further development. The whole Žižkov complex was made purposefully for the office, storage and loading/unloading use. As a freight railway station, it has no large public areas that could be used as a museum or gallery, such as the d’Orsay Station in Paris.
“In terms of good town-planning strategy of a large and attractive area that raises a big challenge for architects, city government, investors and residents alike, the conservation of the area is completely unfeasible; it would seriously complicate the overall spatial design of the new buildings, which is something the questionable conservation value can’t compare to, once the original function is lost,” says Professor Šlapeta.
The buildings of the former railway station can’t be used
The former area of the Freight Railway Station Žižkov in Praha 3, with its size over 33 ha, is the largest area in Prague that’s designed for potential development. Part of this area, including the main building, was declared the cultural monument by the Ministry of Culture on December 3, 2010. It’s the central part of the area – the large 3-wing functionalist building from 1935, two receptions and fences along the Jana Želivského Street.
However, the conservation of large buildings of the former Freight Railway Station prevents the modern development of the neighborhood. Czech Railways, as the owner of the building and most of the land in the area, oppose to the conservation declaration; so does the City District Praha 3. That’s because the declaration holds up the plans for the further development of the area as a new residential neighborhood, and also the solution of the local traffic issues. The latter involves the elongation of Olšanská Street by building the Jarov Junction. Unless this road, following the current railway (i.e. outside the inhabited areas), is functional once the Prague Ring Road is made, traffic will increase dramatically on the streets Koněvova, Českobrodská, Vinohradská and Černokostelecká. This would lead to significant decrease of the living conditions of residents.
Czech Railways, represented by the company Žižkov Station Development, a.s., i.e. the owner of the land, appealed against the Ministry of Culture’s statement in December 2010, stating that the balance between conservation and needs of social development must be considered carefully. The conservation value cannot be assessed separately, with excessive formalism, as the real purpose of conserving monuments is to increase the quality of human life. In this case, the area must be revitalized so it may become part of the live urban environment, which would not be possible if the building, difficult to use in the present conditions, remained intact.
The Freight Railway Station hasn’t been operational since 2002. The giant functionalist building consists, apart from the office wing, of two storage wings several hundred meters long, with rough structure only, without thermal insulation or other fittings. Major part of the machinery doesn’t exist anymore, which is why the railway station has lost most of its historical value. That’s why even the Conservation Department of the Prague City Hall stated that the area couldn’t be used without the redevelopment, and didn’t recommend declaring the monument protection. In the context of similar industrial buildings in Europe, such as Van Nelle Warehouse in Rotterdam or Zollverein in Essen, the Freight Railway Station isn’t really exceptional.
“We believe that the committee of the Ministry of Culture has assessed the expert historic and technical assessments we provided, and will agree with our point that the new urban area must be created here, with the traffic infrastructure important for the whole city, including the reserve for the underground line D and streetcar line. We consider the petition for the conservation of the former railway station a political initiative – people who sign it are provided biased information, not realizing what they put at risk. If the railway station is conserved the area may continue to decay, and there will be no chance to prolong the Olšanská Street and connect the Jarov Junction to the Prague Ring Road. Then, increased traffic on the existing roads will affect very heavily the environment of many local residents,” said Leoš Anderle, Development Director of Sekyra Group.
For more information, please contact:
Jana Strádalová
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