This Wednesday marks exactly 35 years since the opening of one of the countryâs most notable works of architecture, hotel JeÅ¡tÄd.
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Renovation work begins at Pragueâs main station ... on top of a hill above the town of Liberec and dominates the surrounding skyline. The design of the building, which was completed in 1973, remains unique to this day.
The mountain of JeÅ¡tÄd rising above the town of Liberec has always been a popular tourist destination. When an old wooden hotel built on top of it burnt down in the 1960s, a tender was put forward for a new building. Hotel JeÅ¡tÄd first opened its door to the public in 1973, on this very day. The author of the winning design was architect Karel HubáÄek. Art historian ZdenÄk LukeÅ¡ explains what makes his design so unique:
âThe aim of the competition was to build two separate buildings, a hotel and a TV transmitter. Mr HubáÄek combined both buildings together and created one structure only, which is very unique from the point of view of structural engineering. He combined steel construction and reinforced concrete construction. The coat of the tower is created from special fibreglass strings and the shape of the tower is rotating hyperboloid which is a very radical type of construction. â
The hotel on JeÅ¡tÄd hill has received many prestigious awards, including the international Perret prize. As ZdenÄk LukeÅ¡ notes, it was a unique success, regarding the time of its construction:
âThis building was designed and created under deep communism and it was not so easy to make something special from point of view of engineering. But it was done and it is one of not so many examples of perfect architecture of that time.â
The elegant structure of JeÅ¡tÄd hotel has become a dominant symbol of the Liberec region. On Tuesday, just one day before the 35th anniversary, the local authorities decided to buy the building from its current owner. They are hoping to renovate the building and restore the original interiors and eventually apply for inclusion on the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites.
(radio-Prague)
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