Charges over bridge work

Controversy continues to surround the renovation of Charles Bridge with a city official facing criminal charges and City Hall fined for neglect and damage caused during renovations.

Police charged Jan Kněžínek, the head of City Hall's Culture, Monument Care and Tourism Department, with obstruction and neglect of his office March 30, following damage caused to the medieval site. Kněžínek now faces demotion and a possible three-year jail sentence.

The charges follow a decision by the Plzeň Regional Authority - which the Culture Ministry brought in as an independent consultant - to fine City Hall 3.25 million Kč for damaging the cultural value of Charles Bridge during the reconstruction. The city plans to appeal the fine.

"The regional office imposed a fine corresponding to the significance and value of Charles Bridge, which is a UNESCO-listed monument," Plzeň Regional Authority spokeswoman Petra Jarošová said.

"The most serious mistakes include the work being done without respecting traditional methods of stonemasonry, the damaging of stone blocks, excessive discarding of original stones and replacing them with new ones, the use of unsuitable mortar, botched repointing works and the use of modern materials that do not correspond to the national cultural heritage monument."

In January, the Culture Ministry appointed the authority to launch administrative proceedings against the city and Mott McDonald, the company hired for the bridge reconstruction, amid talk that City Hall had not been taking the requisite action to prevent damage. Mott MacDonald was not fined.

City Hall had dismissed the growing criticism of the reconstruction work and last year fined itself only 54,000 Kč for not having carried out a historical survey of the monument.

Petr Jirásek, head of the Plzeň Regional Department for Culture and Heritage, said that the cultural and historical value of Charles Bridge had been damaged.

"But let me say again that it is only partial; it only concerns the first phase of the renovation between 2007 and 2009. Also, some of the procedures we believe were faulty can be reversed," he told Prague Radio. "So we cannot say Charles Bridge has been destroyed; that's certainly not the case. But some really serious mistakes were made."

A rocky road

Protests and complaints have dogged the reconstruction since work began three years ago.

In October 2009, Martin Kadrman, vice president of the Association for the Protection and Development of the Cultural Heritage of the Czech Republic, organized a petition to halt renovations. In February, he also handed over evidence of damage to the bridge to UNESCO officials when they came to inspect the work. He says the fine against the City of Prague is "a symbolic act."

"We perceive the fine as confirmation of our worries. We are not alone now," he said. "The Culture Ministry, the National Heritage Institute and other authorities back us up. But the fine will be paid from the taxes of Prague citizens, unfortunately."

The city of Prague disagrees with the fine and will appeal within 15 days.

Mayor Pavel Bém labeled the fine as a "phenomenal mockery" and "political agitation."

He also expressed his doubts about the charges filed against Kněžínek, saying, "I am rather curious as to how this lawsuit will end."

But Kadrman said Kněžínek and Bém are squarely to blame and should be held accountable.

"The city of Prague is the owner of Charles Bridge and therefore guarantees it, and the city's representative at the moment is Bém," he said. "Kněžínek was supposed to execute control, and he was supposed to attempt to prevent damage, and he did neither. These two men should pay the fine jointly and should not burden the city budget."

- Klára Jiřičná contributed to this report.

Gabriella Hold can be reached at
ghold@praguepost.com