The foundation of the Prague Crossroads spiritual and cultural centre
The Prague Crossroads has been one of the most ambitious programmes
of the Dagmar and Václav Havel Foundation VIZE 97.
The foundations of the spiritual and cultural centre were laid in
1999 when an agreement was signed between the VIZE 97 Foundation
and the National Theatre for the lease of this deconsecrated
church for 99 years. This was the incentive to start the preparatory
work of reconstruction. Then on 9 January 2002 the local authority
for Prague 1 issued the Foundation planning permission to
begin the actual building work. The first stage of the work – tackling
the damp in the outer wall – was completed in that first year.
In stage 2, the following year, the main achievement was the restoration
of the wall paintings. The third most important and extensive
stage of reconstruction commenced in 2003 and was completed
in 2004. On 5 October 2004, the VIZE 97 Prize was ceremonially
awarded for the first time at the Prague Crossroads and the
premises thus began to fulfil their purpose.