Trinec, North Moravia, Aug 2 (CTK) – A wooden church from the 16th century, an outstanding heritage site, was virtually destroyed by a fire in the Guty neighbourhood in Trinec last night, regional firefighters spokesman Petr Kudela told journalists today.
According to preliminary estimates, the damage may reach tens of millions of crowns, Kudela said.
The firefighters were informed about the fire of the Corpus Christi Church briefly after midnight, he added.
At their arrival, the church was full in flames already.
“The firefighters extinguished the fire after an hour, but the work continued until this morning,” Kudela said, adding that there were no injuries.
The Roman Catholic church is a valuable heritage site with interiors and paintings from the first half of the 16th century.
Between 2012 and 2014, it was reconstructed for several million crowns.
Judging by the year cut in the portal, the church may have been founded in 1563, but it may be even older.
The first bell was installed in its tower in 1565 and it exists until now.
The spokesman for the Ostrava-Opava diocese said a replica of the church could be built, similar to the Saint Catherine Church in Ostrava-Hrabova, also a heritage site which burned down in 2002.
The accident is being checked by the police who want to find out its cause.
“Since we are at the very beginning of the investigation, we cannot rule out arson, neglect or a technological defect,” Moravia-Silesia police spokeswoman Lenka Sikorova said, adding that a trained dog is searching the place to find inflammables there.
($1 = 22.123 crowns)
