Spadne Olomouc? Městská památková rezervace ve spleti politiky pozdního socialismu
Will Olomouc Fall Down? The City Conservation Area in the Tangle of Local Politics during Late Socialism

Summary/Abstract: This study links the history of conservation and urban planning with the history of regional politics. The author focuses on the administration of the Olomouc City Conservation Area (Městská památková rezervace Olomouc) in the period of late socialism, with an emphasis on the 1980s. She describes the development of the conservation area in the capital of Central Moravia since the early 1950s, the progressive dilapidation of its buildings and the increasing housing problems of its inhabitants, as well as the regulated criticism of this situation in the regional press since the late 1960s. The collapse of part of an apartment building in the historic centre of Olomouc in 1987, which symbolized the city’s neglected state, is revealed as a key moment. The event was covered in a popular national weekly newspaper "Mladý svět" [The Young World] and was perceived as the result of a long-standing failure to address the dilapidation of buildings and ineffective management, which exacerbated tensions among local political elites and led to personnel changes. The author analyses in detail the relationship between the city administration and the district and regional authorities, which had a major influence on political decisions and the allocation of funds for the reconstruction of historic buildings. In addition to the political and administrative conflicts, the author highlights the broader problems associated with the preservation of cultural monuments during the normalization period, such as the lack of financial and material resources, manpower, and construction capacity. She also examines the various strategies used by local authorities to gain support from higher authorities for the preservation of Olomouc’s historic centre. The results of the analysis point to more general structural problems of heritage conservation in socialist Czechoslovakia, where a lack of political will and a chronically dysfunctional economy undermined the effective protection and restoration of cultural heritage. The article thus provides an insight into the dynamics of political and administrative decision-making in the field of heritage conservation and the specific steps that were taken to improve the condition of the Olomouc City Conservation Area during the last years of communist rule in Czechoslovakia.

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