Once a monastery, later Army barracks, and today the site of a future shopping mall, the northeast quadrant of what is now námestí Republiky has always reflected the changing face of Prague. During the initial stages of the ongoing construction of the 7.5 billion Kc ($303 million) Palladium shopping center project, archeologists have discovered the remnants of yet another era: the foundations of a 12th-century Romanesque palace.

The European Property Fund (EPF), the project's investor, has spent 100 million Kc on the archeological excavation. This is a requirement stipulated by law: Any investor planning construction in a historical area must first do an archeological survey of the site, and if archeological artifacts are found, he must finance further fieldwork.

Given this significant investment, it's not surprising that EPF is trying to squeeze everything it can out of the discoveries. The documentation of the archeological findings is one of the key themes of the project's information center, which opened Sept. 22 on námestí Republiky. EPF is also planning to integrate parts of the Romanesque foundations into the interiors of the shopping mall.

"We definitely consider the archeological finds to be an addition that enriches this whole project," says Veronika Kozová, marketing and public relations manager of European Property Development (EPD), the project's developer. "We had to make some changes to the original plan," she says. "But they were all quite easily resolvable changes."

Kozová notes that it wasn't surprising that there were archeological finds in this historical location. What was surprising was the scope of the findings.

According to Zdenek Dragoun, director of the archaeology department at the National Heritage Conservation Institute (NPÚ) in Prague, who led one of the archaeological teams, the discovery of the Romanesque palace is significant because it proves that settlements in medieval Prague were far more extensive than previously thought. Until now, historians didn't believe that settlement in this region extended beyond the compact area later encircled by city walls.

"What makes this site really exceptional is that we can observe here an evolution of city life of some 800 or 900 years," he adds.

An opulent palace

The property became the site of a monastery in the 17th century. Then, some 150 years later, it became the imperial Army barracks. And during much of the 20th century, the property belonged to the Czechoslovak Army.

The two historical buildings that remain on the site today both date to the 19th century. One is the actual building used for barracks, the other a riding hall. EPD plans to incorporate both buildings into the project.

According to Petr Juřina, director of Archaia, another archaeological organization that worked on the excavation, the owner of the Romanesque palace was probably a wealthy foreign trader. "His wealth would have exceeded even that of Czech rulers in that period," Juřina notes.

But ultimately, the opulent palace proved to be a bad investment. "Maybe two generations could have lived there," Juřina speculates. Then the building was demolished in order to make room for the city walls, construction of which began in the early 14th century. According to Juřina, it's likely that the owner was given either financial compensation or a substitute property after the demolition.

This may have been fortunate for the owner, but not for the archaeologists. It meant that the building's residents took all of their belongings with them, leaving behind few clues for posterity as to how they lived and where they were from.

"Of course archeologists are always thrilled if there's a natural catastrophe or some disaster," says Juřina only half-jokingly. "Here we had very little to work with." Still, although the palace itself was nearly empty, excavators found thousands of artifacts of material culture on the property.

And although the major part of the excavation is finished, the research is far from over. The archaeological teams will now catalog and analyze the findings, which will most likely go to the Museum of the City of Prague. Some of the findings will remain where they were found, which is fine by Dragoun. "It's always preferable if the finds stay in situ," he says. "Now the question remains how they will be integrated into the building."

A fruitful collaboration

One of the people entrusted with designing a way to make the findings part of the modern building is architect Martin Líbal.

The challenge, he says, lies in finding an appealing way to display the Romanesque ruins while keeping them from harm. One option would be to create a glass walkway over the partly exposed Romanesque walls, according to Líbal.

"Obviously, the investor will try to get the maximum out of these archeological findings since he wants to bring in as many visitors as possible," notes Líbal. "But I don't expect any battle between the archaeologists and the investor," he adds. "So far the collaboration with the archeologists and the investors has been going smoothly."

Before the excavation began, the archaeologists signed a contract with the investor that stipulated the duration of the archaeological fieldwork. "We basically had 20 months to work on this site," says Dragoun. "Of course, it would have been better to have some more time," he adds. "But in general, I'm happy with how the findings are being handled."

Juřina is also more or less pleased. "I wouldn't say that we were rushed," he says. "Archaeology involves a lot of compromises. It's an art of the possible."

And Prague 1 Mayor Vladimír Vihan, for his part, has commended EPF's efforts. "I think there has been excellent cooperation between the investor and the archeologists," he says. He also notes that the city wouldn't have been able to invest such a large sum of money into the excavation. "I think that the investor's proceedings in terms of the archeological research were exemplary."

A note of dissent

Not everyone is happy with how the project is proceeding. In fact, some are upset that the project is happening at all. One such person is Karel Ksandr, the deputy chairman of the civic organization Klub za starou Prahu (The Society for Old Prague).

The point of contention is not so much the way the archaeological findings are being handled, but the fate of the two historical buildings that occupy the Palladium project property.

"It's a registered cultural landmark," says Ksandr of the building that formerly housed the Army barracks. "What's happening here is against the law about the preservation of monuments," he insists. "A part of the Army barracks has been demolished.

"Basically, the investor's attitude is such that if he finances the archaeological excavation, he has fulfilled his obligations," he adds.

According to Ksandr, a project of Palladium's scope has no place in Prague's historical center. He argues that the project will have a very negative impact on the náměstí Republiky area, bringing in more traffic and generally decreasing the quality of life. "What they're building here is the type of thing that's being built on the outskirts of cities," he says. "The building will have a huge underground parking lot, which means there will be even more traffic directed into the historical center of Prague."

This won't happen, according to Vihan. He says that náměstí Republicky is to become a pedestrian zone, with trams being the only traffic passing through. "The underground parking will mean that there will be less [parked] cars obstructing Prague 1," he says.