Prague department store to be declared cultural monument

The Culture Ministry has finally decided that the Prague department store, formerly known as "Maj" will be declared a cultural monument. Culture Minister Martin Stepanek on Wednesday dismissed a protest by the building's owner, the Czech Republic's branch of Tesco, against an earlier decision by the ministry to that effect. The ministry says the building, located in the centre of Prague, is an important piece of architecture of the 1970s, relating to the functionalist style of the period between the two world wars.