Compact archive November 26, 2008

Prague Industrial Palace Plans lost & found

Wednesday 26 November 2008 17:34

The Right wing of the Prague Industrial Palace, which burned down a month ago, got into unexpected problems, but the story ends well. It was found out the National Archive doesn’t have the plans of the building. Such situation was quite surprising, if we consider that the Industrial Palace is one of National heritage buildings. It was neither in the City Hall, nor in the National or Technical Museums.

The plans suddenly appeared – somebody gave them to Prague Mayor Bem, however the person doesn’t wish to be named, and so are probably not going to find, who helped to rebuild it the original way. The discovery puzzles also the family of the original architect Bedrich Munzberger, who are confused, that the plans are owned by someone else than their family. It seems a little bit, like if somebody stole them.

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Preparing change of Prague Parking zones

Wednesday 26 November 2008 15:54

The system of parking in Prague 2 and 3 is going to change. As the main city part faces much higher need of parking spots than the rest of metropolis, the rules set are too stern, they want to adapt it for local conditions. The main point of change are the blue zones, which are designated for parking of locals, but stay almost empty during weekends, meanwhile those coming for visit have nowhere to stop. That is clearly illogical, and many have already pointed at that.

The rules of parking zones, like the Prague City hall made them, are not in favour of other city parts as well, the main points of critique are high strictness and high prices. The places which should cease to be “blue zones” are being tipped by the traffic police officers. Also some places, like Albertov, should stop to be a paid zone completely.

Burger King Opened first Prague premise

Wednesday 26 November 2008 13:15

The American fast food chain Burger King entered Czech market. Its first premise was opened yesterday in the shopping centre Zlicin. The Burger King chain is going to be run by the franchise company of Polish company AmRest. They plan to open another one in Prague in the near future.

Burger King is the last from the ‘great trio’ of big fastfood companies, which came to the Czech ground. The Burger King premise in Zlicin is directly placed against the local McDonald’s. They commented they do not plan any special steps against the new-old competitor.

Burger king has opened 11 000 restaurants in the world so far. The first one was in 1954, so the company is a year older than their main competitor McDonald’s, which, however, has three times more premises worldwide.

The traffic returns under Vysehrad sooner

Wednesday 26 November 2008 11:54

The Vysehrad tunnel is going to open for the traffic tomorrow morning. The closure, which was so much needed for tramway track repair, was ended four days earlier. The period of extensive traffic limitations ends, those twenty thousand cars return to their regular trace. On the contrary, the unique boat carriage stops going.

The term was shortened, because even when there was snowfall, it came later than the road-menders were afraid, so the frosts didn’t stop concreting. The concrete itself was of the special, fast-solidifying kind, which ables tramways to start going immediately.

The first estimations of the expenses is about 30 millions czk, also because there were three companies working non-stop 24 hours a day.

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The Christmas tree arrived to Old Town Square in Prague

Wednesday 26 November 2008 09:45

The almost one hundred year old spruce, 22 metres tall, arrived to Prague to become the Christmas pride of the Old Town Square. The company arrived with the tree about one hour after the midnight, the installation itself took two hours, so it was erected at three in the morning, exactly month before the Christmas Eve.

“Thanks to cooperation with police, the transport of the colossus run without complications. The worst part was getting the tree from the forest, as there was very heavy snowing during the weekend, and we had to use some heavy technique.” said the speaker form the shielding company

Ceremonial lighting of the tree is prepared on the Saturday, 6 pm. The Prague mayor Pavel Bem traditionally promised to show up on the ceremony, which will also open the Christmas markets.

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