The Pardubice Church of St. Bartholomew will have a historical gray-brown coating

Pardubice - In Pardubice, the first stage of the renovation of the facade of St. Bartholomew's Church is coming to an end, where Vojtěch of Pernštejn is buried. It will return to its grey-brown coating from more than 100 years ago. Workers will soon dismantle the scaffolding surrounding the front of the monument. The Roman Catholic Church will carry out the renovations gradually, as they will amount to 20 million crowns, the region stated in a press release.

"We have known about the emergency state of this cultural monument since 2023; the designer estimated the necessary costs for repairs at 20 million crowns. Therefore, the parish divided the project into stages and is gradually securing funds. This year, the Pardubice region helped with three million crowns to primarily repair those parts that could endanger visitors," said regional councilor Roman Línek (Coalition for Pardubice Region/Civic Democrats).

For example, the statue of Christ on the cross in the upper gable of the church was in poor condition. It was made of Roman cement and was already beginning to disintegrate. And it was not the only one that needed restoration.

The first phase of the facade renovation included the western gable and the entrance hall facade, including the restoration of the entrance portal and artistic decoration. The restorers gradually cleaned the stone elements, glass mosaics, and sculptural decorations. In many cases, it was necessary to remedy the damaged parts, conserve them, and reconstruct the missing sections.

From archival documentation and plaster analysis, experts found that at the time of the complete reconstruction and expansion of the western entrance hall in 1912, the church was covered with plaster in a grey-brown hue of mortar. The work was carried out according to the design by Bóža Dvořák.

"The non-original yellow-white color comes from the facade renovations in the 1980s. In accordance with the views of heritage conservation workers, the new coating is adapted to the appearance of the building from the early 20th century, and therefore the facade will have a monochrome design with a shade in grey-brown sand color. The resulting expression will appear more coherent and calm and will be in line with the original architectural intent," said architect Lukáš Pavlík from the Med Pavlík architects studio.

The church stands on the site of a former Romanesque seat of the Cyriac burned by the Hussites. It was built by Vilém of Pernštejn between 1507 and 1514 in the late Gothic style. Its richly sculpted portal leading to Kostelní Street from 1519 is one of the first significant Renaissance monuments in Bohemia. A marble tombstone above the tomb of Vojtěch of Pernštejn, who died in 1534, is placed in a place of honor in the church.