Kotva Department Store
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| Location | Náměstí Republiky, Prague |
|---|---|
| Opening date | February 1975 |
| No. of floors | 5 |
| Parking | 360 spaces |
| Website |
od-kotva |
Kotva Department Store is a department store in Prague at the Náměstí Republiky (Republic Square). Its name comes from neighboring older building.
Historic build-up area
On the site of department store stood Romanesque church of St. Benedict. Before the mid of 13th century, there was built a commandry of Prague Teutonic Knights which had a fortress character and was related to current fortification built the Old Town. Strahov premonstratensians in the 17th century established a campus Norbertinum here and baroque church was rebuilt according to plans by Domenico Orsi, newly consecrated as St. Norbert. The church was demolished in the late of 18th century due to the construction of the New Town noblewomen Institute. During the construction of the department store, valuable houses from the 19th and 20th century were demolished. Furthermore due to time pressure during construction, significant archeologic areas were lost.[1]
Construction
The Kotva Department Store was created between 1970 and 1975, designed by Czech architect couple Věra Machoninová and Vladimir Machonin. It was build by the Swedish construction company SIAB, which was at that time very unusual. The floor plan consists of multiple intertwined Hexagons. Kotva has five stories above ground, a total of ten interconnected Escalators (two shafts of five escalators) and about the same number of underground, serving as a garage and supermarket. It was intended to become a symbol of abundance and wealth in socialism. At the time of construction it was the largest department store in the former Czechoslovakia. The Kotva did not avoid supply problems, which just showed the weakness of the entire country's economy. Until the 90s, there were all kinds of goods represented almost equally, however after this time, began to deal more clothing and fashion goods.
Proposal for monument declaration
Architectural historian Rostislav Švácha in 2007, suggested the Ministry of Culture to declare the building as a cultural monument because it represents a high level of Czech architecture of the first half of the seventies and its visual and structural concept is peculiarly dealing with the suggestions of several directions in the post-war world of architecture. A similar architectural character began to be used before the Second World War by Frank Lloyd Wright.[2]
References
- ↑ Vlček, Pavel (1996). Staré Město, Josefov (Vyd. 1 ed.). Praha: Academia. p. 640. ISBN 80-200-0563-3.
- ↑ Jana Nováková: Stane se Kotva památkou?, Lidovky.cz, 15. 2. 2007
External links
- OD Kotva, official website, MARKLAND Kotva a.s.
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Coordinates: 50°05′20″N 14°25′38″E / 50.0889°N 14.4272°E