Will the Forum Hotel finally become a monument? There are chances of that, as the procedure for entering the building in the register of monuments has begun.
After more than a dozen years, the Forum Hotel in Krakow, designed by Janusz Ingarden , has a renewed chance of receiving conservation protection. As the local portal LoveKraków.pl reported today, the building, whose body and interiors have been deteriorating for more than 20 years, is in the process of being entered in the register of monuments. Katarzyna Urbanska, Malopolska Voivodeship Conservator of Monuments, spoke to the portal 's editors on the subject:
We have started the procedure for entering the former Forum Hotel in the register of monuments. We want to protect its body. It's a very characteristic building, which all Cracovians know.
As Sebastian Stanik of the Malopolska Regional Office for Historic Preservation informed us, this is the first attempt to enter the hotel in the register in 17 years. The previous proceeding was considered negatively, but this time the building in the context of the destruction of the historic mosaic and the opening of the exclusive New Panorama restaurant was written about by media all over Poland, so the firm reaction of the Malopolska WUOZ seems understandable.
security to spare
No major investments are currently taking place in the building. Even if such plans were to appear, according to the law, for the duration of the proceedings to enter the building in the register of monuments, no construction work that could affect the historic substance of the building can be carried out. The hotel is therefore de facto protected already. If the procedure is successful and the Forum Hotel is officially recognized as a monument, any work carried out by the building's owner, which is the Wawel-Imos company, will have to be consulted with the Provincial Office for Historic Preservation.
An opportunity for the Forum
As Katarzyna Urbanska points out, entry in the register of monuments is not only a limitation, but also an additional opportunity - as the renovation of a historic building can be co-financed by a grant from the city hall or the Social Committee for Monuments of Krakow. Considering how important the silhouette of the Forum Hotel is to the landscape of Krakow's Vistula riverfront, applying for additional funds seems a perfectly reasonable step. Despite its almost certain protection, the question of the hotel's future still remains - with the moment it is entered in the register of monuments, it will become a much more challenging building from the point of view of new investments. Will an idea be found for appropriate development of the spaces it offers?
