Karlovy Vary Hotel Thermal not to get heritage status

The Ministry of Culture has decided not to declare Karlovy Vary’s Thermal Hotel as a cultural monument. The decision was announced by the spa city’s mayor, Petr Kulhanek. The decision means that the hotel, the focus for the annual film festival in the West Bohemian city, will not have to abide by stricter conditions during reconstruction due to take place later this year. The ministry’s move has been contested by the family of the architect Věra Machinová who was behind the so-called brutalist style construction in the 1970s. An appeal can be launched against the ministry decision.