The Story of the Veletržní Palace

Purpose built for trade fairs, the Building Cooperative for Construction of Department Stores held a closed architectural competition in 1924 to build a trade fair complex. Helena Musilová, the National Gallery’s director of collection of modern and contemporary art said the competition’s specifications remain unclear except for one aspect.

“The Prague Trade Fair Palace was a closed competition for select architects. These were A. Dryák, J. Fuchs, E. Kotek, F. Roith, O. Tyl and M. Vaněček. The jury ranked the best designs in this order: O. Tyl, A. Dryák and J. Fuchs, and recommended that the first or the first two together be built or that another competition open to all be held.”

Following the war, few trade fairs were held, with the last one being in 1951. The building became a headquarters for foreign trade companies until August 1974 when a disastrous fire broke out. A few years earlier, the current owner of the building had commissioned a reconstruction project for the Palace which never came to fruition because of the complete destruction wrought by the fire. The companies housed in the building were now homeless and serious consideration was given to demolishing the now remaining skeleton of a structure.

“The building was (loosely included) on the list of heritage sites: only its facade and two halls (courtyards) were protected,” Musilová said. “Architects from Stavoprojekt Liberec spurred a change in the heritage list in 1976, and the new wording protected the entire building. The question of what to do with it, however, remained.”

There were no shortage of suggestions including a hospital, university dormitories, a museum of the workers’ revolutionary movement, the Czechoslovak airlines headquarters, the Czechoslovak Press Agency or a Prague 7 administration building. 

“Most (suggestions) showed that very few people really knew the Palace and understood its potential,” Musilová said. “In the meantime, a suggestion was made that the building include a modern art gallery on the balconies of the Small Hall.”

Stavoprojekt Liberec did a usability survey of Veletržní Palace and a transformation into a museum for the National Gallery and its collections of modern and contemporary art turned out to be the best solution.

“The opinion was that Veletržní Palace should be renovated with maximum respect for its original appearance,” Musilová said. “In the meantime, the National Gallery acquired Veletržní Palace for its collections and the renovations got under way.” This decision though wasn’t made until 1989 with the Palace finally reopening in 1995.

Musilová said the most interesting discoveries made while putting together the exhibition were connected mainly with the construction.

“The plot is very irregular, it needed special consideration not only architecturally, but mainly in designing the structural  stability,” she said. “The plans of every floor are full of irregularities, nevertheless it is not possible to see them in reality.”

Whether you love it for its clean lines and soaring spaces, or think it is a cold hulk of a structure, it’s an important part of Prague’s architectural landscape.

“Veletržní Palace is one of the most important buildings in the history of modern architecture in the Czech Republic, as far as it is a very early example of a clear functionalistic building,” Musilová said. “Hard to find another building so  simple and in the same moment so strong in its expression.”