Another coronavirus “victim”. For the first time in history, the organizers “whistled” Matějská
The traditional Matěj Fair with several centuries of tradition will definitely not be this year. The Koček family, which has been organizing an amusement park with attractions on the premises of the Prague Exhibition Grounds in Holešovice since the 1990s, has decided to cancel the event in view of the unfavorable epidemic situation in the Czech Republic and abroad.
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St. Matthew’s fair. Illustrative photo.
| Photo: DENÍK / Dimír Šťastný
“We came to the decision after several negotiations with the management of Výstaviště and Czech and Dutch partners. The preparation of the pilgrimage is time consuming. At the moment, it is not even clear whether foreign operators would come to us, “said Eva Kočková on behalf of Kočka sro
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The family business leases places for individual attractions to their owners, led by Hans de Voer from the Netherlands. The costs of international transport of one major attraction are in the order of hundreds of thousands of crowns, and for their operators, their broadcasting is too risky in the current situation.
Will it at least be a fun town?
In any case, the organizer of the pilgrimage hopes to be able to open the Fun Town during the spring, just like last year, compared to Matějská’s more modest version of the amusement park. “We want to start as soon as possible and keep the town quiet until October. Last year was a loss for us both in terms of the prematurely terminated Matějská and the summer stage. People went less. Apparently they were afraid, “added Kočková.
Her company has not yet applied for any government compensation for entrepreneurs affected by measures against the coronavirus epidemic, and is yet to find out if she is entitled to any.
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Last year’s Matějská started in the traditional term at the end of February. As usual, it offered around some interesting innovations, such as a 70-meter swing or a 50-meter-high chain carousel. However, it stopped turning due to the onset of the epidemic on March 10.
Subsequently, the significantly “truncated” Fun Town was in operation from June to September and its visitors were given entry to prevent the transmission of glove infection and disinfection. According to Kočková, the “summer version” of Matějská could be more extensive this year than last year.
There was another move in the game
Matějská pout with a tradition dating back at least to the 16th century was originally religious in nature and took place on the way lined with chapels and leading to the church of St. Matěj near Hanspaulka. The “secular attributes” of the event in the form of stalls and carousels gradually moved over the centuries to today’s Victory Square and Hradčanská.
After the construction of new CTU buildings, Matějská ended in this area and since 1963 it has been “anchored” in the area of the Holešovice Exhibition Center. The biggest boom was experienced in the early 90’s, when the number of visitors reached one million. Even in recent years, attendance has ranged in the hundreds of thousands.
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In 2015, the administration of Výstaviště moved from Incheba, with the Kočková family, to a united city. Since then, Prague has been trying to cultivate the whole complex and turn it into a modern leisure space. In 2018, the then mayor Adriana Krnáčová (for the YES movement) spoke about the possible relocation of Matějská elsewhere. “This is not a museum or a storehouse. I think that the people of Prague deserve to make better use of the space, “Krnáčová remarked at the time.
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