Problems of Charles Bridge reconstruction

The Charles Bridge reconstruction has been going on for quite some time, and now there will be another delay; two groups interested are now going to fight, whether the reconstruction is going on in right or wrong direction.

The 1st side: the Inspection of Ministry of Culture, focused on the works. They state in their report the new stone blocks which are used are planted in a wrong way and than chipped additionally. Also, there was no need of using so many new stones. According to the report, the reconstructing company didn’t do archaeological research before the works.

The 2nd side: Mott MacDonald company, doing the reconstruction, defend, they did archaeological research as the first thing, they have documents proving that the stones were really damaged by salting and the communist reconstruction of 80’s. The culture and sight leader of Prague City Hall Jan Knezinek said that “…published document is a shame of the Ministry inspection” but the MacDonald company however admits some of the stones were not embedded exactly.

We are going to find out in coming weeks, it may be decided at a court, but one thing is clear already: the Charles Bridge reconstruction will take much longer.