00:00 Picturesque and stunningly beautiful. That's how we think of the Czech capital Prague.
00:07 But this too is Prague. The bare concrete, angular forms and simple design that characterise
00:15 the architectural style of the 1960s and 70s called Brutalism.
00:21 Not everyone loves these buildings here. Many have even been demolished in recent years.
00:29 Art historian Luka Šveverka thinks this is wrong. Together with other historians and
00:34 architects he's campaigning for the preservation of Brutalist architecture.
00:38 It's a print of the time. So for me as an art historian it's very important to have
00:44 them because through them we can understand the age, the people, the tendencies and the
00:50 architectural theories and also the thinking about the city.
00:55 Brutalism originated in Britain and arrived in Prague in the 1960s when the Czech Republic
00:59 was still under the Soviet Union's influence. Buildings like the former Assembly building
01:03 are still often viewed through political lenses.
01:06 A lot of people could say that it's connected with communism itself. But the building itself
01:13 is very modern and it reflects the western architecture of the time. It was designed
01:20 in the late 60s by Karol Prager who was very in touch with the tendencies of the 1960s
01:28 in western art and architecture.
01:32 So Brutalism wasn't a Soviet invention. Its founders aimed to create honest, simple and
01:37 functional architecture with bold forms and bare materials. Today Brutalist buildings
01:42 can be found all over the world. But are buildings like the Barbican Estate in London beautiful?
01:49 I wouldn't say pretty because pretty is not a good aesthetic class. But I would say interesting,
01:56 I would say sculptural, I would say appealing because Brutalism buildings should be about
02:03 appeal, about thinking and about the contrast that they are making.
02:10 This building, the Hotel Intercontinental, is one of the two remaining entirely Brutalist
02:15 buildings in Prague. Bare concrete, geometric shapes and no blending with other styles,
02:21 it's currently under renovation. A controversial undertaking.
02:27 In other cases, renovation could have saved buildings. This 1970s building, once the Czechoslovakian
02:34 Transgas Company offices, no longer exists.
02:39 Despite many protests by architects, historians and activists, the new owners got their way
02:45 and it was demolished in 2019. They promised to put a residential building on the site
02:49 but four years later nothing's happening here.
02:53 The demolitions often just left the place in a state like this. So that's the main problem.
03:00 If the buildings would be replaced by something interesting or for a lot of people, for general
03:07 public, not only for the owners of the new buildings, it would be respectable.
03:12 Today, a few gas pipes are all that's left of the building.
03:19 But not all Brutalist buildings in Prague are unpopular or endangered. The Nova Sena
03:26 National Theatre is even a listed building.
03:33 So how do these different appraisals come about?
03:40 It seems that the people at the Ministry of Culture have their own opinion based on aesthetics.
03:47 So that's the problem. They are deciding and they are seeing it by the optic of the
03:54 general public, which sometimes doesn't recognise the value of it, of the building.
04:01 In this case, Brutalism has even prevailed over the more generally appreciated Gothic
04:06 and Baroque styles. Prague's Emmaus Monastery, originally from the 14th century, was badly
04:12 damaged in the Second World War.
04:15 The competition to rebuild the towers was won by a Brutalist design, even if some citizens
04:21 would have preferred a reconstruction true to the original.
04:26 I think this kind of architecture is the kind that appeals on feelings that should be appealed.
04:34 These kind of buildings, they were interesting at the time they were built. And after 60
04:40 or 70 years, we are still fighting for them or against them.
04:45 So the question remains, how do we deal with architecture that's fallen out of fashion?
04:50 Do we tear it down? Or do we leave it standing as a messenger from times past?
04:54 (upbeat music)
04:57 (upbeat music)
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