The Ještěd TV tower and mountain hotel is a work unique in silhouette and singular in detail, a monument of the first order, and a symbol of the town and region of which it is a part. However, a number of questions arise when it comes to conserving the qualities of architecture from the second half of the 20th century. For this reason, a group of architects, conservationists, historians and architectural theorists assembled at Ještěd, and the outcome of that meeting is this publication. The authors are Ondřej Beneš, Lukáš Beran, Matúš Dulla, Benjamin Fragner, Ondřej Fischer, Jiří Křížek, Miroslav Masák, Jana Pauly, Miloš Solař, Oldřich Ševčík, Pavel Škranc, Rostislav Švácha and Petr Vorlík.

Works of architecture from the 1960s have in recent years been evoking ever greater interest among the public. The first books devoted to charting and interpreting this period have been published, important artists have been identified, and exhibitions have been organised. Equally, however, other structures have been inappropriately converted and the detailed designs of their interiors and characteristic claddings have been destroyed or without forethought entire structures have vanished—and even the still living authors of these works have been able to prevent this. The number of decisions to grant protected status to buildings from this period in the Czech Republic can literally be counted on the fingers of one hand. As a national cultural monument the Ještěd TV tower and mountain hotel is all the more striking an exception. Perhaps that is why the interpretations of the significance and scope of the legal protection it enjoys vary surprisingly.

Ještěd was declared a cultural monument back in 1998 and at the start of 2006 he was given the status of National Cultural Monument, which requires its nomination for entry on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. In 2007 Ing. arch. Věra Kučová invited the VCPD to prepare the information for the building’s nomination (for the Central Office of the National Heritage Institute), and these materials were prepared by Mgr. Lukáš Beran. The condition of the mountain hotel’s and restaurant’s original interiors stood out as of key significance for the site’s future use. Consequently, in 2008 the National Heritage Institute commissioned Ing. arch. Petr Vorlík, Ph.D. to prepare within the VCPD and in cooperation with external experts thorough technical and structural documentation for all the interior elements based on a structural-historical study of the site, analyse the nature of the elements and their level of authenticity, and draw up the first proposal for their reconstruction to serve as the basis for the expert discussion.

The VCPD convened the working meeting at Ještěd Hotel on 11 March 2009. The day before, conservationists, architects, historians and architectural theorists toured another work of architecture in Liberec by the architects Karel Hubáček, Ještěd Shopping Centre, and for many of them this was the last time as just fourteen days later demolition of the site began. The discussion thus extended to take in the entire issue of the conservation of post-war architecture. A publication was prepared on the basis of the talks given during the meeting titled Ještěd / Documenting the Qualities of Post-war Architecture.

The processes of obtaining heritage protection for the site and nominating it for inclusion on UNESCO’s World Heritage Site is described in the publication by Mgr. Jiří Křížek. Ing. arch. Petr Vorlík Ph.D. provides information about the results of the above-mentioned documentation of the site’s interiors. An opinion on its reconstruction is presented by Johanna Pauly PhDr. Pavel Škranc describes and interprets the art works that form an indelible part of the structure. Ing. Ondřeje Fischera DrSc. describes some other less known structural designs for the tower. A theoretical interpretation of the Ještěd structure is put forth by doc. PhDr. Oldřich Ševčík Csc. and Ing. arch. Ondřej Beneš, and prof. Ing. arch. Matúš Dulla DrSc. proposes a parallel with the New Bridge in Bratislava. The architect prof. Ing. arch. Miroslav Masák dr. h. c. and the historian prof. PhDr. Rostislav Švácha CSc. both describe their experiences with working to get structures listed as cultural monuments. In conclusion, the specific problems that the reconstruction of Ještěd must confront are summed up by Ing. arch. Miloš Solař. These contributions are accompanied by the minutes from the final discussion, moderated by prof. Ing. arch Petr Urlich, in which prof. Ing. arch. Jiří Suchomel, PhDr. Josef Štulc, prof. Ing. arch. Tomáš Šenberger, Mgr. Martin Strakoš and Mgr. Jakub Potůček also took part. Following the meeting at Ještěd a questionnaire was distributed to all the participants and guests to get their opinions on how specific elements of the structure should be handled in the future and the publication also includes their assessments.

Petr Vorlík – Benjamin Fragner – Lukáš Beran (edd.), Ještěd / Documenting the Qualities of Post-War Architecture, Prague 2010.

96 pages, Czech, English/German introduction and summary, 24 images, ISBN 978-80-01-04475-9 / contributing editorial work Vladislava Valchářová, Jan Zikmund / translation Robin Cassling / scientific review Věra Kučová, Petr Kratochvíl / graphic design Jan Forejt / typesetting and print Studio Element / published by the Research Centre for Industrial Heritage and the Faculty of Architecture CTU Prague in cooperation with the National Heritage Institute

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This publication looks back at the industrial heritage buildings and sites in the Czech Republic that were irreversibly destroyed in the years between 1999 and 2009 and buildings that are currently at immediate risk. It was published by the Research Centre for Industrial Heritage in cooperation and with the financial support of  the Monuments Committee of the Czech Chamber of Certified Engineers and Technicians and the Czech Union of Civil Engineers.

The book is based on information in the VCPD’s Industrial Heritage Register, on documentation available from archives, literature searches in the contemporary and modern press, consultations with metropolitan and local authorities, contacts with demolition companies, and important assistance in its preparation was provided by local heritage offices and museum staff, experts on the past of different sectors, with significant input also provided by industrial history enthusiasts. The authors concentrated on information on those sectors in which structures have in recent years been vanishing at an alarming pace, without any basic documentation of them having been made.

Benjamin Fragner – Jan Zikmund (edd.), What We Destroyed (Ourselves). Taking Stock of the Vanishing Industrial Age / Ten Years, Prague 2009.

144 pages; Czech, English introduction; 274 images; ISBN 978-80-01-04387-5 / contributing editorial work Vladislava Valchářová, Lukáš Beran, Pavel Jákl, Daniel Froněk / translation Robin Cassling / proofreading Olga Groszová, Marie Forejtová / graphic design Jan Forejt / typesetting and print Studio Element / published by the Research Centre for Industrial Heritage CTU Prague in conjunction with the Technical Monuments Committee of the Czech Chamber of Certified Engineers and Technicians and the Czech Union of Civil Engineers

The publication was launched at the International Biennial Vestiges of Industry 2009 and with it an exhibition of the same name opened in the previously inaccessible spaces of the Old Sewage Treatment Plant in Prague-Bubeneč which ran from 19 September to 18 October 2009. The exhibition was prepared by Benjamin Fragner, Jan Zikmund, Gabriel Fragner, Martin Holota and Lenka Dolanová.

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This publication contains the proceedings from an interdisciplinary meeting held to discuss the role and significance of industrial heritage in the Ústí nad Labem Region. It touches on the history of the region and the current issue of brownfields. The publication contains conference papers and descriptions of buildings that were viewed on an excursion organised as part of the meeting.

Lukáš Beran – Vladislava Valchářová (edd.), Industrial Heritage of the Ústí nad Labem Region – Mapping and Revitalisation, Prague 2008.

112 pages; Czech, English/German introduction; ISBN 978-80-01-04114-7 / contributing editorial work Benjamin Fragner, Tomáš Šenberger, Petr Urlich, Petr Vorlík, Jan Zikmund / authors Jan Jehlík, Martin Pondělík – Petr Fiala, Ivan Vaníček – Daniel Jirásko – Martin Havlice, Libuše Pokorná, Lenka Burgerová, Martin Krsek, Ladislav Stančík, Günter Bayerl / translation Robin Cassling, Susanne Spurná / graphic design Jan Forejt / typesetting and print Studio Element / published by the Research Centre for Industrial Heritage CTU Prague

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Industrial heritage has become a compelling and contemporary issue, as though less and less a thing of the past. A browse through this book, which marks the end of the series of international Biennials ‘Vestiges of Industry’, should provide ample proof of this fact.

The very first meeting in the Biennial series, held in the Old Sewage Treatment Plant in Prague-Bubeneč in 2001, was accompanied by a sense of impatience and worry. This mood no doubt stemmed partly from the fact that industrial heritage was still viewed more as a curiosity on the margins of public interest, and it was difficult to tell what kind of response it would garner. By the time of the fourth Biennial in 2007 the view of industrial heritage had changed in the Czech Republic, and it has now come to be seen as a challenge. No longer the exclusive interest of just a handful of enthusiasts, the topic now draws attention from the media and the general public. It is has been accepted by the professional community, which until recently was divided over the issue, by official institutions, which were initially wary of the issue, and even by the commercial development sector.

Yet questions arise for which we cannot make do with just simple answers. Even in this altered atmosphere we still encounter a sense of unease and concern, and the reason is that, as time passes, there is less and less space left for reaching the right solutions and realistic options. Paradoxically, a side effect of the general increase in the level of interest in industrial heritage has been a swell in uninformed and speculative decision-making, so that what has managed to survive so far is now at risk of being devalued. The value criteria that were identified, and which were beginning to gain ground, seem to be gradually slipping through our fingers.

The dilemma that constantly plagues the topic of industrial heritage is where to draw the line and say from this point words need to be put into action. The ‘Vestiges of Industry’ Biennials have therefore always tried to be a kind of notional umbrella, encompassing conceptually wide-ranging and more or less autonomous exhibitions, performances, concerts, and conferences on the possibilities, significance, and difficulties surrounding the adaptive re-use of industrial heritage. Their main objective, alongside encouraging general reflections about fading values, was to bring life back to a particular site that had remained outside the sphere of interest for some time.

This was exactly the case of the unique technical structure in which the first conference was held in 2001 – the Old Sewage Treatment plant. In subsequent Biennials attention turned and events spread, to other industrial structures in Prague, then to abandoned industrial sites in nearby Kladno, and then on to other towns in the Czech Republic, such as Liberec and Ostrava. For a few days on each occasion it was possible to bring together the experiences and often conflicting professional interests and education of architects, civil engineers, conservationists, developers, sociologists, people in the sector of culture, visual and dramatic artists, and musicians. And on each occasion we were consequently able to take the discussion beyond aspects of architectural creativity and heritage conservation to the level of more general reflections, where industrial heritage must be seen as a part of a world that we still reside in, even as we are simultaneously consumed by the aspirations of a society with its industrial age apparently behind it, leaving just the shadows of vanishing industrial enterprises in the aftermath of the decline of industry and the liquidation of entire sectors. Industrial heritage constitutes a lasting cultural experience, a memento, a truly unique aesthetic experience, and an explicit material legacy.

The international conferences were primarily directed at sharing and comparing experiences of similar efforts around the world. Therefore, the selection of papers presented at the conference in 2007 and some of the papers presented at the 2005 conference form the core of this book. For easier orientation it is divided into fi ve chapters. The wide spectrum of perspectives presented herein offers a more or less comprehensive idea of current practices relating to industrial heritage.

The book’s opening and, for an orientation in this topic, highly valuable essay is by Sir Neil Cossons, and in it he elaborates on the thoughts expressed in his keynote speech at the fourth Biennial in 2007. The second chapter contains a summary of outstanding projects in past years, mainly represented by German, British and French experiences, and we can trace the way in which they are interconnected as examples of the important and pursued goals of an integrated Europe. This is followed by a current overview of the arguments for and examples of the adaptive re-use of former industrial buildings and sites as the formative hubs of urbanisation and the sustainable development of urban centres and rural areas. The third chapter contains papers presented by participants from abroad, followed in the fourth chapter by texts on the changing atmosphere and value criteria in the domestic scene, attested to with examples of the buildings and projects discussed.

The International Biennial ‘Vestiges of Industry’ and its many accompanying events, exhibitions, concerts, and performances, signified a stride beyond the usual framework of such meetings. The fifth chapter rounds out the description of this atmosphere, weighing the strength and value of personal experience in encounters with an industrial environment and the potential and limitations of artistic communication as a source of inspiration for action.

Given the length and the large number of conference papers it was impossible to include all the texts in both Czech and English as they were presented (in simultaneous translation) at the conference. The full versions of all the texts in Czech or in Czech translation are accompanied by an English translation of the titles and illustration captions and a reference to the page number where the text is printed in full or abridged form in English at the end of the book. The aim is to provide as complete as possible an idea of the atmosphere of the conferences and the topics they addressed, and to do so within the relatively limited space afforded by a publication.

Benjamin Fragner (ed.), Industrial Heritage, Prague 2008.

344 pages; Czech/English, 245 images, ISBN 978-80-01-04067-6 / authors Lukáš Beran, Louise N. Boucher, Neil Cossons, Eva Dvořáková, Vladimír Dvořák, Wolfgang Ebert, Keith Falconer, Axel Föhl, Benjamin Fragner, Blažena Gehinová, Marie Hesková, Meritxell Puig Jodar, Müjgan Bahtìyar Karatosun, Eva Kráľová, Michael Mende, Jiří Merta, Györgyi Németh, Radka Pittnerová, Petra Rydvalová, Dan Senn, Lars Scharnholz, Radoslava Schmelzová, Paul Smith, Jan Světlík, Tomáš Šenberger, Josef Štulc, Dagmar Šubrtová, Norbert Tempel, Petr Urlich, Vladislava Valchářová, Miloš Vojtěchovský, Tomáš Žižka / contributing editorial work Lukáš Beran, Vladislava Valchářová / proofreading Olga Groszová, Eva Příhodová / translation Robin Cassling, Kateřina Hilská, Jiří Mareš, Yveta Johansen / graphic design Jan Forejt / typesetting and print Studio Element / published by the Research Centre for Industrial Heritage CTU Prague in conjunction with the Technical Monuments Committee of the Czech Chamber of Certified Engineers and Technicians and the Czech Union of Civil Engineer

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