Work has begun so that the former Forum Hotel in Krakow can be entered in the register of immovable monuments. The initiative is supported by the Krakow branch of SARP, which wants to protect the building by highlighting its architectural value.
The edifice of the Forum Hotel in Krakow has aroused considerable interest for years. Once the most modern hotel building in Poland, it was later turned into the city’s largest advertising medium, and today it is an almost extinct place, whose glory years are long behind it. Some find it repulsive, while others point to the building as the best example of Brutalist architecture in Poland.
The modernist building was designed by Janusz Ingarden. Its construction began in 1978 on a plot of land near the Vistula River. It had more than 270 rooms and was fully air-conditioned. It had two restaurants, a grill bar and a drink bar. The hotel opened in 1988. The building is distinguished by its dynamic mass, which was erected on reinforced concrete pillars. The windows of the building form wide strips and clearly separate the floors. However, the hotel was closed just 12 years after opening. The reason for the closure was said to be structural defects due to soaking of the foundations and flooding of the basement by water.
As the whiteMAD editorial team found out, the Provincial Office for the Protection of Monuments in Krakow initiated proceedings to enter the Forum Hotel building in Krakow into the register of immovable monuments of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. The proceedings are conducted ex officio in connection with the application of the Association of Polish Architects, Krakow Branch, dated 11 July 2024, to enter the building in the register of immovable monuments.
The Cracow SARP asked the Provincial Office for the Protection of Monuments to be recognised as a party in the administrative proceedings and thus fulfil its statutory task of protecting architectural creation. The provincial conservator agreed and began proceedings to enter the Forum Hotel building in the register. However, the final decision has not yet been made. A visual inspection of the building will be carried out in the near future and an administrative decision will be issued.
In the case of an entry in the register of historical monuments, once the administrative proceedings have been completed with a legally valid decision, it will be possible to carry out conservation works and construction works, but in agreement with the conservator of historical monuments (in this case, it is the area competently belonging to the Municipal Conservator of Historical Monuments), informs Sebastian Stanik, spokesman for the Provincial Office forthe Protection of Historical Monuments.
If the Forum Hotel is entered in the register of monuments, it will gain legal protection and it will be impossible to demolish or rebuild it. Possible tenants will be able to conduct business inside, but without the possibility of interfering with the architectural fabric. The owner of the building will be able to apply for subsidies from the city hall or the Social Committee for Renovation of Krakow Monuments. We will inform you of the decision of the Provincial Office for the Protection of Monuments when it has completed its proceedings.
source: Voivodeship Historic Preservation Office in Krakow
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