"The construction of the ministry building at Na Františku was started in 1928. The total budget amounted to CZK 32.5 million, which means that one square metre of built—up space cost CZK 266, which was quite a bargain, considering the prices at that time. According to the original plans, the construction was to be finished in 1931, but the palace was only declared fit for occupation in 1934.
The author of the plan for the construction of the palace of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Patent Office was Josef Fanta, a prominent Czech architect, who was also a professor of architectural design and history of medieval and old Christian architecture at the Technical University in Prague. He won a public tender that a total of six architects had entered, although the jury objected to his plan for the placement of the main entrance towards the embankment and to the modest appearance of the north facade. The actual construction was contracted to the builder Antonín Belada. On the embankment opposite the Letna hill a very gracious and distinctive construction (within the chosen stylistic conventions) took shape.
Arc frontispiece The three—storey building is built on a rectangular base ground plan of 107 x 49 metres, with self—supporting walls and stone facades of granite and sandstone. Although these materials were used as economically as possible, it is not a typical facing because the granite and sandstone squares are 25 — 35 centimetres thick and are abutted with brick wall. The granite mostly comes from Dolní Mesto, Tanvald and Železná Ruda, and the sandstone from a quarry near the spa town of Lázne Mšené.
If you stand with your back to the Vltava, you face the north facade with the main entrance, which terminates on both sides by four—sided towers. The facade is structured on the centre axis by a buttress that takes in the space of the high ground floor and the two storeys housing the main representational rooms. The whole buttress is topped with an attic gable with larger—than—life figures symbolizing Industry, Trade, the Crafts and Navigation, above which a decorative glass canopy towers. On the sides there are massive pylons with spherical ends, bearing four reliefs of the national coat of arms of the Czechoslovak Republic.
Glass cupola On the west side there was originally the entrance to the Patent Office. Above this entrance, at first floor level, there is a balcony whose railing consists of little pillars bearing four larger—than—life statues symbolizing Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Engineering. The south facade has the least ornate decoration. There are entrances to two enclosed courtyards from this side of the building, highlighted by portals with statues.
On the east facade of the building you can find some more uncommonly rich decoration. Its central part above the columns is emphasised by allegorical figural sculptures of Industry, Ingenuity, Persistence and Truth. The recumbent figure with children on both sides of the facade represents Trade and Industry. You can count over one hundred and twenty statues on the whole building plus a great amount of graffito, ornaments, metal grilles and other decorative elements that underline the overall representative appearance. A total of fourteen artists took part in the extensive decoration, including perhaps the best—known team of Josef A. Paukert and Cenek Vosmík. The loft of the ministry building still houses many of the original models of the statues to a scale of 1:3, which first had to be approved by the Construction Committee. In 1999, repairs to the whole facade of the building, including construction restoration, were carried out."
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