Černigov Hotel

When the new territorial division of Czechoslovakia into regions was announced in 1960, regional cities were also established. This strengthened their administrative and symbolic role. In the 1960s, Hradec Králové lacked accommodation facilities, although it hosted many congresses and meetings. This shortage was to be solved by two hotel buildings, each at the opposite end of the city: the Alessandria Hotel designed by architect Jan Zídka (1961–1963), a monolithic construction with brick partitions, and the Regina Hotel, which was to become the new landmark of the Prague Suburbs. František Bartoš and Josef Havlíček had already planned a high-rise building in this location in their 1946 zoning plan to counterbalance the tower of the station opposite. The design of the hotel, whose slab mass was incorporated into the redevelopment plan of Prague Suburbs in 1961 by Břetislav Petránek, was undertaken by architect Jan Zídka and the monolithic structure was designed by František Čížek. The technical solution was based on a unique system of concrete beams with a span of 7.2m designed by Bohumil Rusek and František Čížek. The hotel was originally to be called Regina, as reported by the local press during its construction, but after 1972, when Hradec Králové entered into a so-called twinning agreement with the northern Ukrainian town of Chernigov, the hotel was renamed shortly before its opening. 

 

The hotel belongs to a group of buildings from the 1960s. It shows a very diverse and free approach to the type of board hotel buildings. It ranks among hotels such as the Thermal Hotel designed by Vladimír and Věra Machonin in Karlovy Vary (1964–1976), the Parkhotel in Prague–Holešovice designed by Zdeněk Edel and Jiří Lavička (1967), the Olympik Hotel in Prague - Karlín designed by Vojtěch Šalda and Josef Polák (1967–1971), and the International Hotel in Brno designed by Arnošt Krejza and Miloš Kramolis (1959–1969). However, the hotel in Hradec Králové was not an experiment with Brutalist architecture or postmodern structures (like the Thermal hotel), nor did it incline towards a technicist aesthetic (like the Olympik hotel), and did it not react to the Brussels style (like the International hotel and the Parkhotel). Being one of a few unique projects, it was supposed to follow the style of the interwar functionalist architecture, which still had a strong tradition in Hradec Králové. Architect Jan Zídka used white Yugoslav Maljat marble in combination with Vratsa marble for the hotel. The façade has strip windows. The base and the top floor with the bar are broken by narrow rectangular windows and alternate the white facade with black paint. The design of the hotel is thus clearly among the best that the 1960s left in our country: it paid an unprecedented attention to detail, there was an emphasis on quality of workmanship and materials, and it combined sober and imaginative interiors, and its geometric minimalism and contrasting black and white color scheme is unparalleled in the country. 

 

The 15-storey building contained a multi-level ground floor with a wine bar and restaurant in the basement, a reception, conference rooms, a breakfast room, and a foyer on the ground floor. There were 231 rooms with 581 beds, and a bar on the top floor with a unique view of the city. All the interiors were furnished with original furnishings of domestic manufacture (made e.g. by Dřevotvar) and original characteristic ball chandeliers. Leading artists and designers such as Hugo Demartini and Jaroslav Vožniak participated in the interior decoration. The hotel’s operation was one of the best in the country, in 1983 it was awarded as the best hotel in its category in Czechoslovakia.

 

In 1992 the hotel was privatized and the number of rooms was gradually reduced to 210. Between 

2004 and 2007 it was called the Amber Hotel, but it is currently called the Černigov (Chernigov) Hotel again. Its fate is currently uncertain due to the current owner’s intention to demolish it and replace it with a new building.

 

LZL