Signal Festival applies for lease of magnificent yet empty Old Town Market

The company behind the popular annual Signal Festival is currently the only applicant for the lease of the Old Town Market (Staroměstská Tržnice), a grand indoor marketplace in the centre of Prague that currently stands empty.

Source: Signal Playground

Only a stone’s throw from Wenceslas Square, thousands of people walk past the entrances to the Old Town Market every week without knowing it is there. Built between 1894 and 1897 and designed by the architect Jindřich Fialka, the space is an impressive indoor marketplace reminiscent of London’s Covent Garden market, and it connects the central streets of Rytířská and 28. října. It was closed in 2020 to undergo a planned reconstruction, but criticism of the form and cost of the tender stalled the process, and the market has been empty and rarely visited for four years.

Now Prague City Hall has opened a tender for a temporary landlord, and the company Signal Playground has been the only one to apply for the lease. Their plan is to create Signal Space, a gallery focused on digital art, in this listed building.

Old Town Market|Photo: Signal Playground

"Our goal here is to create a leading Czech digital art gallery. For a long time, we were looking for the ideal space to realise this dream. We believe that the market could be a great place for our project. We do not want this beautiful space to continue to be empty and bring nothing but costs for the city. On the contrary, it could be transformed into a home for contemporary art, in a way that would respect its unique atmosphere," said Martin Pošta, director of Signal Festival and representative of Signal Playground.

Stunning audio-visual exhibits could therefore fill the space for three and a half years, before the city begins its full reconstruction. Despite the fact that Signal Playground has entered the tender process as the only bidder, the lease proposal has not yet been approved by the city, due to disagreements in the municipality regarding the calculation of the rent amount. The rent of 1.2 million crowns per year will be discussed at one of the next meetings. The municipality will decide on the lease in the next few weeks.