Prague, Feb 17 (CTK) – The recent fire of the roof of the historical building of the Czech National Museum in the city’s centre caused damage of ten million crowns according to the estimate, Generali insurance company director general Pavel Mencl told CTK Wednesday.
The firefighters made the same estimate previously, while the museum’s management expects the damage to be lower.
The cause of the fire that broke out on Friday remains unknown, but it is suspected that it was caused by a defect of the ventilation or wiring systems.
About 200 square metres of the roof were on fire. Nobody was seriously injured. The historical museum building, dating from 1891, is empty because it is undergoing an extesive reconstruction.
Culture Minister Daniel Herman said last week the damage was not as big as originally expected because the fire damaged a part of the building that would undergo reconstruction anyway.
National Museum director Michal Lukes said on Monday the fire would not affect the deadline by which the reconstruction should be completed.
The reconstruction works started in 2015 and they are to end in late 2018 and cost 1.35 billion crowns.
