The church in Třinec was one of the oldest, perhaps the structure is a replica

Prague - The wooden church from the 16th century, which burned down tonight in Třinec, was one of about eighty similar buildings located in the Czech Republic. Approximately half of them, however, are from the 20th or 21st century; there are about forty historical buildings. The vast majority of them are in the Moravian-Silesian Region, and the one in Třinec Gutech was among the oldest.

Whether a replica could be constructed as in the case of St. Catherine's Church in Ostrava - Hrabová is not yet clear, but there is thorough documentation available about the church that could aid in this endeavor, said a source from the National Heritage Institute to ČTK.

A wooden church from the 16th century burned down in Třinec's Guty district. It was a valuable monument with many original furnishings and paintings from the first half of the 16th century. It was reconstructed from 2012 to 2014 for 4.3 million crowns.

"We are currently determining what can still be salvaged and what will need to be completely redone. Based on that, we would then apply restoration programs that we have at the ministry. Of course, this is a tremendous loss of the cultural wealth of our country in the Těšín area, which is irreplaceable. However, it is necessary to look forward, and just as we actively approached the restoration of Libušín, I firmly hope that we will evaluate the options available," said Minister of Culture Daniel Herman to Czech Television.

The ministry could allocate hundreds of millions for the church's restoration. "The investigation is at the very beginning. It will surely be estimated in the tens of millions of crowns. But right now, we would just be speculating," he added.

In addition to the National Heritage Institute, wooden churches in the Czech Republic are also mapped on the website Dřevěné kostely, which lists the Church of the Virgin Mary in Broumov, built in 1177, as the oldest of its kind in the Czech Republic. Three churches date back to the 14th century. The Church of St. George in Loučná Hora in the Hradec Králové region, whose origins are not precisely known, was established before the mid-14th century. The dedication to St. George even allows for the possibility of a Romanesque origin.

The first mention of a wooden church in Kozojedy in the Jičín region dates back to 1368; however, the church is now plastered over. The Church of St. Catherine in the village of Tamovice near Štramberk, which was already abandoned in the Middle Ages, also dates from the end of the 14th century; there is also a presumption that it has Romanesque foundations. Most wooden churches are in Eastern Bohemia and Silesia, and two similar churches were also built in Prague in the mid-20th century.

According to the aforementioned website, the youngest church of this type is the Church of St. Martyr Valentine in Most, built in 2010. It was constructed by the Romanian Orthodox Church. The church was made in Romania, where it was fully assembled, then disassembled and transported to northern Bohemia. The Romanian church chose Most mainly because of the approach of the municipality, which was very eager to have the church. In the following years, additional small sacred buildings were constructed or restored.