Czech Museum rolls into final moving phase

CEDAR RAPIDS - The National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library will soon inch toward its final home.

Museum spokeswoman Diana Baculis said the tedious process of rolling the building onto its new foundation is scheduled to begin Monday, barring lightning.

“This is the most intricate operation of the entire move,” she said. “It's a very delicate maneuver that requires calculations every time it moves.”

The building has already been moved 480 feet from its site along the Cedar River, at 30 16th Ave. SW, and elevated 12 feet.

Rolling the 1,740-ton building on top of the parking garage foundation could take four to five weeks.

“It has to go slow and it has to land within a fraction of an inch,” Baculis said. “It can't be off at all.”

Crews with Jeremy Patterson Structural Moving and Shoring of Washington, Iowa, have been working earlier in the morning because of this week's heat wave.

The move began June 8 and was initially hindered by almost daily rain. The museum, dedicated by three presidents in 1995, was inundated by flood waters in 2008.

Once completed, the building will sit 11 feet higher than its current elevation, or three feet above the 2008 flood level.