Paving paradise?
Parking garage to replace
once-popular movie house
By Sylvie Petrakova
Staff Writer
A venerable Mala Strana movie theater popular with film fans for most of its 40 years of existence apparently will close to make way for an underground garage and hotel.
The 64 U Hradeb Cinema is in the basement of an imposing building on Mostecka Street, adjacent to McDonald's, just up the street from the Charles Bridge and not far from AAU. The upper floors are occupied by apartments. Fronted by a statue and fountain in the courtyard outside its main entrance, the building is considered an outstanding example of Prague's municipal architecture.
The new owner of the building, U Hradeb a.s., recently filed plans for the site with the Institute for the National Heritage. A hotel is to occupy the main floors and spill over into a new annex. Several stories of underground parking are to replace the area occupied by the cinema, which now offers only private screenings.
The project is expected to go forward as soon as remaining tenants in the building have found other places to live. Representatives of U Hradeb had no comment on their project, but opponents of the plan were more vocal. Rostislav Švácha of the Old Prague Society, which protects historical monuments, called the planned project "uncivilized and barbarous." He said it is vital to preserve the architectural integrity of the site.
"From an architectural and historical point of view not only is it unthinkable to add an extra annex to the complex but also to close down the cinema and transform it into underground garages," he said.
The cinema, in the Little Quarter, is prominently located on the Royal Way, the ancient coronation route to Prague castle. Designed by a well-known Czech architect, Tomáš Šašek, the building is considered such an outstanding example of Prague's municipal architecture that the Old Prague Society believes it should be individually listed in the Czech National Register of Historic Places.
Vaclav Marhoul, former director of the Barrandov studios in Prague, is among those disappointed at the loss of the theater, which he said had once been a "really prosperous" enterprise. He said the cinema played a key role in the cultural history of Prague, offering films that were far superior to ordinary movie fare. Marhoul once told Mlada Fronta Dnes it was his dream to transform the U Hradeb Cinema into a film center with three halls and a place where actors and filmmakers could be honored.
According to Mlada Fronta Dnes, AB Barrandov acquired ownership of the property in 1992 during the privatization process. However, after Moravia Steel became a majority shareholder of AB Barrandov in 1997, it sold the property to McDonald's. The transfer failed to include a requirement that the cinema be preserved. Thus, when the current owner purchased the property from McDonald's, it was not obligated to retain the movie theater.
-- Sylvie Petrakova can be reached at syp.art@seznam.cz.
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Last issue date: Dec. 12, 2003
