Water Returns to the Kranner Fountain After an Eighteen-Month Restoration Begins

Prague 1 has begun a full restoration of the Monument to Emperor Francis I — the Kranner fountain — in the park Národního probuzení on Smetanovo nábřeží. The district announced the start on 7 September. The work will run for 18 months, and it includes repairing the technical plant and putting the fountain back into operation.

The contract went out at 16.9 million crowns before VAT, roughly 45 per cent below its estimated value. That gap has a history: the original tender for the repair was cancelled, and Prague 1 then prepared a new brief aimed directly at expert restoration of the monument rather than at repair work generally. The district assembly approved starting the project, the district ran a fresh selection procedure, and the winning bid came from Agentura „Jan Zrzavý“, spol. s r. o.

Behind the restoration are years of surveys, preparation and coordination. After the original procedure was cancelled we prepared the contract again, and the public competition brought a price substantially lower than the original assumption. But what matters above all is that this exceptional monument will get the thorough expert care it already needs.

— David Bodeček, first deputy mayor of Prague 1 for culture

What eighteen months of work covers

The restoration takes in the stone architecture, the sculptural decoration and the lower part of the structure. Specialists will remove accumulated dirt and unsuitable older repairs, consolidate damaged stone, mend cracks and corroded elements, and renew the surface of the monument. The work also includes remediation of the underground spaces and repair of the water technology.

The first site meeting concentrated on detailed documentation of the monument, its immediate surroundings and its unusual underground spaces. What follows is the unglamorous sequence: establishing the site compound, arranging safe access for machinery and materials, and protecting the surrounding greenery — including coordination with the park's irrigation system.

We do not want merely a cleaner and lighter monument. The aim is above all to give the Kranner fountain back its real function, that is water, and to restore it as a living part of Smetanovo nábřeží. During preparation and during the work itself, care will be taken to protect the surrounding greenery and the whole park.

— Kateřina Klasnová, deputy mayor of Prague 1 for the environment

Where the money comes from

Three sources are named. The Programme for the Regeneration of Urban Heritage Reserves and Urban Heritage Zones provides 1.99 million crowns. The City of Prague provides a further 3.667 million. The district has also asked the Ministry of Culture for another 1.4 million from the programme's reserve — a request, not yet a grant. The remainder of the 16.9 million falls to Prague 1.

With a restoration this demanding it was essential to prepare the contract so that high professional requirements went hand in hand with responsible handling of public funds. During implementation we will rigorously watch both the quality of the work and adherence to the schedule.

— Richard Bureš, Prague 1 councillor for investment

The monument itself is neo-Gothic, the work of the architect Josef Kranner, and was unveiled on what is now Smetanovo nábřeží in 1850. The district frames returning water to it as the point of the exercise rather than a by-product of cleaning the stone — which is the right way round. A fountain that does not run is a sculpture standing in a basin, and no amount of consolidated stonework changes that. The underground spaces and the water technology are where this contract either succeeds or does not.

All of the above comes from Prague 1's own announcement; the district is both the client and the source.