Press information for the international festival of architecture Architecture Week Prague 2013 Name of event: Architecture Week Prague 2013 Theme: Architectural heritage and contemporary architecture Date: Sept 23 – Oct 20, 2013 Place: Convent of St. George, Prague Castle, Prague National Technical Library, Technická 6, Praha 6 Characteristic: International festival of architecture and urbanism Year: 7th Organizers: Prague Castle Administration Czech Architecture Week Co-organizer: Czech Heritage UNESCO Patronage: Miloš Zeman, President of the CR, WHC UNESCO, Association of Regions of CR, Union of Cities and Municipalities of CR, Czech Heritage UNESCO, National Heritage Institute of CR, Heritage Institute of SR, Lord Mayor of the City of Prague, Ministry of Culture of SR, Ministry of Culture of CR, Ministry of Environment of CR, Ministry of Education of CR, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of CR, Embassy of Slovakia, Czech Chamber of Architects , Association for Urbanism and Territorial Planning of CR, districts of Prague 1, Prague 2, Prague 3, Prague 6, SARP Official hotel of the festival: Park Inn Praha Partners of Architecture Week 2013: ČSA, ČD, Czech Tourism, Jansa, Mokrý, Otevřel & partneři, DPP Participating cities: Bratislava (SK), Brno (CR, UNESCO), České Budějovice (CR), Český Krumlov (CR, UNESCO), Gdaňsk (PL), Gdynia (PL), Holašovice (CR, UNESCO), Kroměříž (CR, UNESCO), Kutná Hora (CR, UNESCO), Lednice (CR, UNESCO), Litomyšl (CR, UNESCO), Olomouc (CR, UNESCO), Pardubice (CR), Písek (CR), Prague (CR, UNESCO), Prague 1 (CR, UNESCO), Prague 6 (CR), Přerov (CR), Skalica (SK), Tábor (CR), Telč (CR, UNESCO), Třebíč (CR, UNESCO), Valtice (CR, UNESCO), Warsaw (PL), Wroclaw (PL), Znojmo (CR), Žďár nad Sázavou (CR, UNESCO), Žilina (SK) Participating embassies: Embassy of Argentina, Embassy of Armenia, Embassy of Brazil, Embassy of Chile, Embassy of Croatia, Embassy of Denmark, Embassy of Estonia, Embassy of Finland, Embassy of Greece, Embassy of Israel, Embassy of Italy, Embassy of Lithuania, Embassy of Latvia, Embassy of Mexico, Embassy of Morocco, Embassy of Peru, Embassy of Poland, Embassy of Portugal, Embassy of Romania, Embassy of Slovakia, Embassy of Slovenia, Embassy of Spain, Embassy of Sweden, Embassy of Switzerland, Embassy of Turkey, Embassy of Venezuela, Representation Wallonia-Brussels Participating cultural institutes: British Council, Bulgarian Cultural Institute, Instituto Camoes, Instituto Cervantes Praha, Polish Institute in Prague, Österreichische Kulturforum in Prag, Romanian Cultural Institute Partners of the conference Preservation of Cultural Heritage within the EU: Siemens, Artechnic-Schréder, MC - Bauchemie, Eleutheria Foundation Patronage of the project Playful Architect: The First Lady of the CR, Czech Chamber of Architects Partners of Playful Architect: Prague Castle Administration, ČD, Jindřišská Tower, Czech Tourism Product partners of Playful Architect: LEGO, Horalky, Pribináček, Centropen, Conkline Participating elementary schools: ZŠ Kneslova (Brno), ZŠ Dukelská (České Budějovice), ZŠ Za Nádražím (Český Krumlov), ZŠ Habrmanova (Hradec Králové), ZŠ Dukelských hrdinů (Karlovy Vary), ZUŠ (Kroměříž), ZŠ Jana Palacha (Kutná Hora), ZŠ Husova (Liberec), ZŠ U Školek (Litomyšl), ZŠ a MŠ Demlova (Olomouc), Středisko volného času Ostrava – Zábřeh (Ostrava), ZŠ Benešovo náměstí (Pardubice), ZŠ Jana Husa a MŠ (Písek), 25. ZŠ Chválenická (Plzeň), ZŠ Hornoměcholupská (Praha), ZŠ Velká Dlážka (Přerov), ZŠ Helsinská (Tábor), ZŠ Hradecká (Telč), ZUŠ (Třebíč), ZŠ JUDr. Josefa Mareše (Znojmo) Main media partner: Architekt – magazine of the Year Media partners: Ekonom, Hospodářské noviny, Magazín In, Magazín Víkend, MF reklama, Můj dům, Project&Property, Railreklam, Stavba, Světlo Online partners: archiweb.cz, CityBee, czechtourism.cz, ihned.cz, kudyznudy.cz, pragueeventscalendar.cz, propamatky.cz, stavbaweb.cz, svetlo.info Partners of Italian Architecture: Italian-Czech Business Chamber, Eleutheria Foundation Partner Spanish Architecture: Canaria travel Architecture Week Prague 2013 7th international festival of architecture Architecture Week Prague 2013 is organized under the patronage of the President of CR, Miloš Zeman, in the premises of the Convent of St. George at the Prague Castle from September 23 to October 20, 2013. The main theme of this year`s festival is architectural heritage and contemporary architecture, and its aim is to present Czech as well as international historical architectural heritage and to enable its comparison with contemporary and newly emerging architecture. Exhibitions shown during the festival will present architecture of almost thirty Czech, Polish, and Slovak cities, modern and historical architecture of forty countries (this exhibition is traditionally prepared in cooperation with embassies and cultural institutes of the participating countries), and the festival will also present all monuments listed as UNESCO world heritage (745 monuments from 157 countries). Another part of the festival will be lectures by Czech and foreign architects taking place in the National Technical Library, exhibition openings, a conference, days of architecture of selected countries, days of cities, architectural walks, and other events that regular visitors of the festival are used to. The festival will be interesting for architecture students who will have the opportunity to explore a wide range of architectonic styles in one place, to observe impact of each period on modern and contemporary architecture and to evaluate possible connections and fusions of architecture in different times and different cultures. Students can thus liven their studies up at the beginning of the new term. Playful architect There`s something in store for children too: As a part of the festival there will be a new national project called Playful architect. It aims to introduce historical architecture to schoolchildren from 3 rd and 4 th grades, to show them what architectural heritage is and why is it important to care about it and protect it. Children had to draw or paint selected architectural monuments from their city. The best works will be shown in the Convent of St. George at the Prague Castle. Participating classes will have the opportunity to spend a day at the Prague Castle with interesting program including a guided tour to the exhibition Story of the Prague Castle, they`ll get presents and above all will meet the First Lady of the CR, Ivana Zemanová, who is the patron of the whole project. The project will involve more than 600 children, 20 elementary schools from 20 cities all over the Czech Republic. We would like to set up a new tradition of annual meetings of schoolchildren at the beginning of the school year at the Prague Castle. We would also like to develop the project in the international context. Each year will have a special theme. Expert conference On October 3, 2013, from 2 pm, in Brožík Hall of the Old Town Hall, there will be an expert conference Preservation of Cultural Heritage within the EU co-organized by the Prague City Hall and Czech Heritage UNESCO. The conference will be attended by Michael Turner, representative of UNESCO, leading world experts on the preservation of monuments and architectural heritage. The conference will be opened by Oldřich Lomecký, Mayor of the City of Prague 1, Michael Turner, representative of UNESCO, Naděžda Goryczková, General Director of the National Heritage Institute of CR, and Katarína Kosová, General Director of Heritage Institute of SR and Jiří Černý, Director of Artechnic-Schréder and partner of festival. Lectures will be given by for example Antonio Natali, Director of Uffizi Gallery in Florence, who will speak about recent restoration works in the gallery and opening of new halls, further on Nikita Yavein (Studio 44), architect from the Union of Architects of Russia, with a lecture called Architecture of St. Petersburg and Reconstruction of Hermitage, Frédéric Didier, the main architect of historical monuments (Administration of the castle and the city of Versailles), Carlotta Del Bianco, cofounder of Romualdo Del Bianco Foundation. The conference will be hosted by Jakub Železný. Invitations only. Days of Cities in Prague Within the festival Architecture Week Prague, the project Days of Cities in Prague, at the Republic Square, will present countries and cities with their own programs, prepared especially on this occasion. Friday, September 27, will be the Day of the City of České Budějovice , on which the films will introduce you to the history and the presence of this city and you will have a chance to experience a virtual ”ride“ through the city center. Beer degustation and live music will be a part of the program. You can see performances of the street theatre and the genuine tambor drummer will invite you to a number of attractions. And since the Town Hall in České Budějovice is known also for beekeeping and producing their own honey, the visitors can see an exhibition of macrophotographs focusing on bees. The Day will be opened by the city mayor. On Saturday, September 28, the city of Olomouc will be presented, the Day will be opened by the city mayor and the chief architect of the city of Olomouc, during the whole day a trio of musicians in historical costumes will play selection of baroque opera (a musical company Ensemble Damian) and films about Olomouc will be showed. On Monday, September 30, the Day of the city of Písek will take place – on dibond panels in front of the marquee, the visitors will have an opportunity to see an exhibition The