The technical state of disrepair of the SNG building in Bratislava resulted in a radical step by director Katarína Bajcurová, who as of 1 March 2001, decided to close down the exhibition spaces of the SNG bridge. Inconsistent project construction, installation of worn-out technology and the use of poor quality materials, as well as the problematic "repair" of the leaking glass roof, all contributed to the fact that after 24 years the bridge became unsuitable for exhibition purposes. Thus the gallery had to close off approximately 1,800 m² of its exhibition space designated particularly for temporary exhibitions.
As a result of this decision, the gallery faced a wave of negative criticism from the population, the city's chief architect and certain parts of the expert public. Post-revolution voices brought to life called for the removal of the bridge, although former party and governmental buildings have fulfilled and fulfil new functions in the city without such radical architectural interventions. The employees of the gallery, a certain part of the domestic expert public and voices from neighbouring countries promoted the preservation of the building in public discussion.
In 2001 the SNG management, together with the Ministry of Culture of the SR, decided to deal with this state of emergency by implementing an investment plan for the reconstruction and modernization, or completion of construction of the SNG premises (in the period of 2004 - 2005, the first part- the reconstruction and modernization of the Esterházy Palace according to the project of Ing. arch. Rosica Borščová was carried out).
The construction plan of 2001 called for necessary repairs but without a principal re-evaluation of the complex. Yet it was the functional re-evaluation of the complex that appeared to be necessary to ensure the resolution of the problem of the never completed gallery premises. Even moreso since the concept, which director Bajcurová succeeded with in her campaign for the post, also incorporated the so called development model of the SNG, i.e., the building of a multi-functional gallery facility corresponding to European standards of the 21st century. The continuous threat of floods of the Danube River contributed to the re-evaluation of the spatial concept of the premises, and the bursting of the water pipes in October 2004, resulted in damage to collection items in the basement depository.
The gallery decided to search for a solution in the form of a public architecture tender. Only the second tender for the reconstruction and modernization of the SNG premises brought results (2005, chair of the jury: architect Gustav Peichl) with more specified terms and conditions respecting the new functional requirements. Studio Architekti BKPŠ Kusý - Paňák were selected.
2001
March 1, General Director Katarína Bajcurová closed The Bridge due to its state of disrepair.
2002
Serious thought began to be made about reconstruction; the government of the Slovak Republic approved the Investment plan for the reconstruction and modernization of the SNG premises in Bratislava and Programme of financing of the reconstruction and modernization of the SNG premises in the period of 2003 - 2009 as priority of the Ministry of Culture of the SR. On the basis of the Resolution of the Government of the Slovak Republic no. 244/2002 and no. 846/2002, in cooperation with The Association of Slovak Architects, SNG prepared and announced the Architectural Tender for Reconstruction and Modernization of the SNG Premises", starting as of 14 October 2002, with the deadline for submission of tender proposals 16 December 2002.
2003
On 21 and 22 May 2003, a meeting of the competition jury of the architectural tender Reconstruction and Modernization of the SNG Premises in Bratislava took place, chaired by prof. ing. arch. Emil Přikryl (The Academy of Fine Arts in Prague). Eighty-two applicants collected the competition terms and conditions; 39 projects were submitted by the deadline. The jury awarded the first prize ex aequo to two proposals: that of architects Juraj Koban and Štefan Pacák and that of authors Iľja Skoček jr, Oliver Sadovský, and Matúš Vallo. The second and third prizes were not awarded; a reward was given to the proposal of architects David Kopecký, Ján Studený, Martin Vojta a Oldřich Skyba.
2004
With regard to the high level of the Danube and as a reaction to acute flood hazard, the main depository was evacuated to the premises of the closed Bridge, and later to Zvolen. At the same time, the part concerning modernisation of the Esterházy Palace was exempted from the reconstruction project and was carried out separately, following the project of Rosica Borščová.
2005
Since the architectural tender did not lead to an unequivocal winner, the solutions proposed were economically demanding, nor did they bring satisfactory and adequate solutions for all the accumulated problems, a second tender for submission of proposals for Reconstruction and Modernization of the SNG Premises (2005) was announced with better specified terms and conditions respecting new functional requirements, as well as a requisite to deal with the architecture of Vladimír Dedeček as a monument. The jury was composed of: prof. Gustav Peichl (chair, Vienna, Austria), Petr Pelčák (Brno, Czech Republic), Andrej Hrausky (Ljubljana, Slovenia), Peter Vitko (Bratislava), Peter Moravčík (Bratislava), Katarína Bajcurová (SNG), Andrej Zmeček (Ministry of Culture of the SR), Martin Mašek (Ministry of Culture of the SR). Following the assessment of the proposals and individual evaluation, the jury decided to award the first prize to the proposal of the collective under Martin Kusý and Pavol Paňák. The second prize went to architects Eduard Šutek and Andrej Šutek; the third to the authorial collective of Gabriel Zajíček, Dušan Jurkovič, Matúš Ivančič a Gabriel Drobniak.
2006
The winning proposal was the basis for the elaboration of the Construction Plan for Reconstruction and Modernization of the SNG Premises, to which the Ministry of Transport, Construction and Regional Development of the SR issued the Protocol on the implementation of state expertise no. 10/2006 in July 2006, which validated the total construction costs of 2005 in the amount of 1,007 billion Slovak Crowns without VAT. The entire construction was divided into 4 stages: stage I Bridge, stage II Water Barracks, stage III New Depositary, stage IV Administrative Building, Amphitheatre, Library. A construction permit was issued for the first stage; the others were to follow.
2007
The Ministry of Culture of the SR changed the phasing - instead of two public procurements, it decided to procure the construction as a whole, with only one public procurement for the construction contractor.
2009
Investment Activity was suspended due to economic crisis.
2012
The Ministry of Culture of the SR resumed the Investment Activity (IA) and issued an instruction for the elaboration of an implementation project. The IA was supposed to be carried out as one construction. SNG moved to its temporary rented premises of the Hurban Barracks, which it needed to adjust.
2013
The Ministry of Culture of the SR announced a public procurement for the construction contractor. Administration, library, and the depositories were moved to temporary premises of the Hurban Barracks.
2014
The Ministry of Culture of the SR announced restricted procedure procurement for the provision of Construction Supervision services (the contract was signed in 2015).
2015
Based on the results of the announced international competition for Construction Contractor, the Ministry of Culture of the SR requested elaboration of Property Valuation Report, which was done by the Slovak Technical University in Bratislava, which estimated the real price of the SNG reconstruction when taking into account the current price level according to the valid construction work index at EUR 56,588 mil., including VAT and recommended reserve of 10 % of the total price of the construction work (in connection with the nature of the construction). The total amount of the construction without reserve represents EUR 51,443,333 including VAT (including items which are part of the project documentation and which were not included in the bill of quantities).
On 28 December, a contract with Construction Contractor - Hornex-Strabag consortium was signed, with the construction price of EUR 45,600,000 including VAT. The total amount of the Investment Activity was EUR 48,718,937 including VAT.
2016
On 18 January, the premises at the river banks were handed over to the Construction Contractor as a building site. Afterwards, the continuity of the work was disrupted due to security measures related to the Slovak Republic Presidency of the EU.
2017 - 2019
The state supervision over public work was performed by the Ministry of Transport and Construction. Preparations of interior and permanent expositions projects were launched. The following was completed: a 9-floor new building of the Depository House (Sarcophagus), renovation of all steel structures (Administrative Building, Bridge, New Wing), new floor and façade of the Administrative Building, new roofs on the particular buildings, renovation and securing of all basements, façade on the Dedeček's Bridge facing the embankment, constructions of the large courtyard and the wing of new expositions viewing the Riečna Street, all facades of the historical Water Barracks, the so-called Hong Kong Alley, etc.
2020
A government's resolution broadened the scope of the IA, as well as its financial volume by 26.8 mil. The augmentation included also a project of the interior, which has been handed over and is closed. The construction works continued despite some disruption of the fluidity caused by the anti-pandemic measures.
2021
At the moment, we are working on preparation of permanent expositions. Furthermore, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture of the SR, SNG is preparing optimisation of costs in connection with the IA increase in the last year's government resolution.
