Hotel Olympik is a large hotel in the Karlín area of the 8th district of Prague, Czech Republic. The hotel is near the Invalidovna housing facility and the Čechie Karlín stadium."Olympiáda mohla být v Praze dávno před Bémem. Nejblíže jí byli komunisti Robert Břešťan ". HlídacíPes.org - 9.8.2016 Hotel Olympik is located at 138 Sokolovská Street.
History The Hotel Olympik was designed by a team of architects led by Josef Polak between 1967 and 1971. The hotel was opened to the public in 1973. The building is high, has 21 floors, and overlooks the city quarter of Karlín.
The hotel was finished in 1974, and at the time had 715 beds. A fire at the hotel in 1995 claimed eight lives and left 34 people injured. One of the biggest fires in Czech Republic history, it resulted in damages of 35 million CZK. The fire started on the 11th floor of the hotel and is believed to have been caused by an overheating appliance.
On 5 October 2008, thieves broke into the hotel safe and stole the equivalent of about CZK 1,000,000 in different currencies (about US$55,500) and a large number of shares from the Olympic Holding Company."Z hotelu Olympik někdo ukradl trezor s akciemi za 250 miliónů". Novinky.cz, October 5, 2008
In 2015, the hotel was given a new brightly coloured facade."Nová fasáda hotelu Olympik má barvu ohně, lidem připomněla tragický požár". iDNES.cz, 30 October 2015
1980 Summer Olympics
According to some experts, Hotel Olympik was built in preparation for Prague's bid to host the 1980 Summer Olympics."Praguescape: Unrealised utopia". By Kristina Alda | Prague Daily Monitor | 2 June 2009Praha chce olympiádu a už se začíná chystat, 2. března 2001, iDnes.cz, 2. 3. 2001, MF Dnes The housing area Invalidovna would have been the Olympic village. After Moscow placed a bid, Prague withdrew its application.Martin Bublák: Československý olympismus v období komunismu 1948–1989, diplomová práce, Brno, Masarykova univerzita, pedagogická fakulta, katedra historie, 2008 The hotel is not in a tourist area; it hosts many conferences and business gatherings.
Photogallery
References This article is based on a translation of the Czech Wikipedia article Hotel Olympik.
External links