Chrudim continues preparations for the reconstruction of the church into a lapidarium

Chrudim - The Chrudim town hall continues its plans to transform the dilapidated Church of St. Joseph in the city center into a sculpture museum and dining facility. It has already selected a company to prepare the project documentation and will be looking for suitable exhibits. The city aims to obtain a grant for the renovation of the deconsecrated building, most likely from the European Union.
Chrudim chose between five architectural firms that met the conditions for the renovation set by the city. "The conceptual plan included a lapidarium, with a restaurant operation in the lower part. In addition, the proposer was to prepare additional spaces for exhibitions or concerts. From the bids, we selected the firm Projektil architects," said Chrudim's deputy mayor Jan Čechlovský to ČTK.
According to him, the construction project should be completed by summer, and the city wants to have all the necessary documentation ready by the end of the year, so it can apply for EU funding at the beginning of 2007. "We will either try European funds or another source of money for cultural monuments and the preservation of cultural heritage. Costs are estimated to be in the tens of millions of crowns, as static reinforcement will also need to be done, and the church is completely devastated inside," Čechlovský stated.
The city plans to lease the created restaurant while it will operate the sculpture museum itself. "We will start working with conservationists and art historians on the content section of the lapidarium as soon as possible. The idea is that there would be a permanent exhibition of baroque sculptures in the church," the deputy mayor said. He believes it will be possible to gather valuable exhibits, whether from the Chrudim region or from across the country. "Our country is known for its baroque and baroque plastics," Čechlovský thinks.
Chrudim has also recently discovered sculptures that older residents of the city still remember in the Church of St. Joseph. Thirty-nine wooden sculptures, previously considered lost, are now with the Capuchins in Prague. According to Mayor Ladislav Libý, there is a possibility that several of them could be exhibited again in the lapidarium.