Here is the winning design for the new memorial to Holocaust victims of Roma and Sinti origin at the former concentration camp in Lety u Písku, Czech Republic

The Museum of Romani Culture in the Czech Republic has announced the winner of the landscape-architecture competition for the design of the future memorial to the Holocaust victims of Roma and Sinti origin at Lety in Bohemia. The winning design was a joint production by Jan Sulzer and Lucie Vogelová of the terra florida v.o.s. studio and Jan Světlík, Vojtěch Šedý and Filip Šefl from the Ateliér Světlík studio; Roman Černohous and Petr Karlík also contributed to the winning design.

The jury assessed all the designs according to the architectural and artistic qualities of their approach, how they situated the memorial in the landscape, and to what degree they expressed the subject matter and handled the theme of the memorial. A crucial factor was the degree of respect expressed by the design for the culture of the Roma and Sinti of Bohemia.

Second place went to a design by Jakub Kopec of the n-1 project, Klára Zahradníčková and Tomáš Džadoň. Others who worked on that design are Paly Paštika, Luboš Zbranek and Lynda Zein.

Third place goes to the Andrea Govi Architetto studio in Italy for a design by Karolina Chodura, Joanna Rozbroj and Marta Tomasiak. “We are very glad that we have managed to choose a design that the jury agreed on practically unanimously,” said the director of the Museum of Romani Culture, Jana Horváthová

PHOTO GALLERY

“The winning project was highly appreciated for its sensitive approach to the subject itself and to that of the surrounding landscape where the memorial will be situated, as well as for fulfilling the conditions of the economic suitability of the design,” the director said. The assumed costs for building the memorial are, according to expert estimates, CZK 31.5 million [EUR 1.18 million] during the first phase of realization.

The memorial will be financed by multiple sources, with most of the budget covered by the EEA and Norway Grants. Now that the competition is completed, the next phase involves negotiations between the Museum of Romani Culture and the architects which will result in a contract on their mutual collaboration and the creation of the project documentation for the implementation of the design.

The building of the memorial is connected to the demolition of the now-defunct industrial pig farm in that location, which was bought out by the state on the basis of Decree no. 609 of the Government of the Czech Republic on 21 August 2017.  Some of the preparations to announce the tender for the demolition work have already begun and the demolition itself will begin in the second half of 2020.

The opening of the new memorial to the public is planned for 2023.The new exhibition and memorial are meant to honor the memory of the Romani and Sinti victims of the Holocaust, to commemorate, educate, inform and spark discussion of both the past and also the present social situation, and to cover the subjects of discrimination against minorities and of human rights.