Ostrava, North Moravia, Aug 8 (CTK) – The construction of a replica of the 16th-century wooden church in Trinec-Guty, north Moravia, which was burnt down last week, is likely to start in the autumn of 2018 and it should be completed in 2019, Vaclav Kotasek told reporters today.
The bishopric, which owns the church, had the construction project worked out, Kotasek, head of the diocese’s building section, said.
The police accused three young men, including a juvenile, of arson in this case. Two of them were taken into custody.
“We want the reconstruction of the church to be scientifically as accurate as possible. It will be built of oak, fir and spruce wood again. The bishopric’s forests will supply it. The tree felling should start this winter,” Kotasek said.
The Moravia-Silesia Region released 200,000 crowns from the regional budget for the removal of the debris and preparation of the project today.
Experts are to dismantle the debris by the end of August and take the elements that can be used to a storehouse in Trinec as a source of detailed information about the church structure, he added.
The bishopric will get a building permit in the autumn of 2018 and the construction works should start immediately afterwards, Kotasek said.
“The shell construction is likely to be ready in winter (2019). We expect the church to be opened to the public in the spring or summer (2019),” he added.
He estimated the costs at 20 million crowns. Most of the sum should be covered by the insurance policy.
The money from a public fund-raising campaign launched today is to be spent mainly on the interior furnishing.
“We know now already that we will not create copies of the sculptures that were there. We will still negotiate about this with heritage protectors,” he said.
The wooden church of Corpus Christi was destroyed by fire in the Guty neighbourhood in Trinec last Wednesday night. The Roman Catholic church was a valuable heritage site with major part of the original interiors preserved and paintings from the first half of the 16th century. Between 2012 and 2014, it was reconstructed for 4.3 million crowns.
($1=22.135 crowns)
hol,ms/dr/ms
