International Property News

Prague prepares study on skyscrapers for UNESCO

19th February 2008

Prague City Hall is preparing a study on the assessment methodology concerning a possible construction of skyscrapers close to the city centre as one of documents for UNESCO, Culture Ministry spokeswoman Marcela Zizkova told CTK Tuesday.

However, the study, the draft version of which was presented at a City Hall meeting today, does not include the Pankrac locality where the controversial skyscrapers are planned. UNESCO previously addressed the Czech Republic in reaction to the project.

UNESCO inspectors are to arrive in Prague next week to check what steps Prague has taken in the protection of its UNESCO-listed architectonic heritage since their previous inspection.

They want to meet representatives of the civic associations that criticise the construction plans on the Pankrac plain.

Today's meeting at the City Hall was attended by representatives of the municipal development section, the National Heritage Institute, the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and the Club for Old Prague civic association.

UNESCO will receive a report on the processing of the study about the visual integrity of Prague's historical core, Zizkova added.

The study analyses, for instance, the possible impact of high buildings raised in the urban conservation area or around it on Prague's panorama.

However, no detailed information on the study will be released before its final version is completed.

ICOMOS Czech committee head Josef Stulc said he welcomed the study as a potential efficient tool to "set up rules of the game."

UNESCO previously expressed a serious concern about the project of skyscrapers on the Pankrac plain. Last summer the committee asked the Czech Republic to consider the project's impact on the world heritage in Prague.

If the Czech authorities did not dissipate the UNESCO fears, Prague might enter the list of endangered world heritage.

Shortly after the UNESCO appeal, the Culture Ministry confirmed the Prague City Hall's decision to approve the construction of high buildings in Pankrac, situated in the protective belt of the urban conservation area.

The UNESCO mission that will visit Prague next week is to prepare material for another UNESCO meeting to be held in Quebec, Canada, this summer.