Never Build Heart of the State. Efforts to Build a New Parliament Building and Government District in Interwar Prague and Their Failure

Abstract

The paper gives a short overview of the efforts to build the new building of the Parliament in Czechoslovakia between 1919 and 1928. In 1919, the Parliament moved to larger building of the Rudolfinum, the most important Prague concert and art exhibition hall.

On the other hand, the pre-war endeavours to build a monumental university quarter at Letná plain were revised into the monumental parliament and government district after 1919. The paper follows two architectural competitions on Letná Plain (1920, 1928) as well as (selected) controversies between various actors (Parliament, State Regulatory Commission, Governmental offices, ambitious architects and professional organisations).