pohlad na panelaky zvonku:

Concrete Conclusions
The discreet charm of the Czech panelak

Sean Hanley

'A panelak? Oh no, I simply couldn't live in one, not now...' My wife's friend was discussing the ins-and-outs of buying a new flat. Getting enough money together is a real headache, and besides, she doesn't quite know what she really wants. But, like many younger, more affluent Czechs, she knows quite definitely what she does not want. She would no more live in a panelak, than she would live in a tent on the beach. Tactless of me to even suggest it.

Panelak was one of the first words I learned in Czech. It refers to high-rise multi-storey blocks of flats, constructed of pre-fabricated, pre-stressed concrete panels, which dot the country. The panelak can be seen in its full, awful glory in the monster estates, which surround Prague and other large cities. However, it can be found in some numbers in even the smallest Czech towns. According to the statistics, about one in three Czechs live in one, although, as readers will have gathered from my faux pas, they are not exactly sought after by the rich and status-conscious.

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