A record setting flood recovery project that’s underway in Cedar Rapids is now available for everyone to watch on-line. Web cameras are set up to show the move and relocation of the National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library. Museum spokesperson, Diana Baculis, says the move is still a couple of months away, but you can watch the preparations.
Baculis says the cameras are now showing the construction at the site, the boarded up building that’ll be moved in April and the new foundation for the building. The building is being moved so it is three feet above the 2008 flood level. Baculis says the move will set a record.
She says at 1,400 tons and 17,000 square feet, it will be the largest museum ever moved. Baculis says the move includes an expansion that will make the end result a better museum than they had before the flood.
Baculis says they will be able to offer expanded programs with a theater and amphitheater, more parking, expanded cooking demonstrations. “So we are very, very excited,” Baculis says. While you watch the site being prepared for the move, what you won’t see is all the planning that’s going on for the massive move.
Baculis says they are trying to plan every event and program for the opening of the new museum in June of 2012. A crew from Patterson Structural Movers in Washington, Iowa is going to move the building. The building will move one -quarter mile an hour to its new location across the street, with the entire move expected to take 45-60 days.
You can find the link to the live webcams may be to view the preparations and move at: www.NCSML.org. Baculis says they plan to tape the move and produce a time-lapse video once it is all complete.