This week, Prague received an expert opinion from the UNESCO World Heritage Centre on an urban study that came up from an international competition for the development of the area around Masaryk Station. UNESCO, through its advisory bodies, states that the study has “a potential to better reveal the exceptional global value of this part of Prague”. UNESCO considers the new district to be built in the area as “friendly both to its immediate context and to the urban morphology of Prague in general”.

The positive news comes after a long period when relations between the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and Prague were rather tense. In the past, the capital city was not very active in communication with UNESCO, which had a negative impact on their mutual relations. Prague would therefore receive rather critical comments. That has now changed, as the director of the World Heritage Centre, Lazare Eloundou Assomo, praised Prague and expressed his “appreciation for a productive and open dialogue”.