Ten years ago, the Libušín cottage, a mountain pearl by Dušan Jurkovič, burned down

Prague - One of the gems of the Beskydy Pustevny is the Libušín lodge, which was built in 1899 according to the design of architect Dušan Jurkovič. This tourist shelter, named after the legendary princess Libuše, served as a restaurant until the tragic fire on the night of March 2 to 3, 2014, when it was nearly completely burned down. The Wallachian Open-Air Museum, which owns the site at Pustevny, decided after the fire to restore Libušín, and the construction of a new lodge began in the summer of 2017. The reborn Libušín lodge was ceremonially opened on July 30, 2020.

The complex of buildings at Pustevny in the Beskydy, which includes not only Libušín and the neighboring Maměnka lodge but also the Pustevenka and Wallachian belfry, was built between 1897 and 1899 at the order of the Pohorská jednota Radhošť according to the design of architect Dušan Jurkovič and builder Michal Urbánek. The ornamental appearance of the buildings was created by assembling and combining various elements and motifs of folk architecture from Wallachia and Slovakia.

The wooden Libušín lodge was opened on August 6, 1899. Its interior was decorated with frescoes and graphics depicting Wallachian and Slovak legends designed by artist Mikoláš Aleš. The portraits were created by academic painter Karel Štapler.

The costs of restoring Libušín reached approximately 111.5 million crowns, of which the construction itself demanded around 96 million crowns. Including costs for clearing the fire site, securing the construction site, or pre-project documentation, more than 117 million crowns have been invested in the building since the fire. This was a scientific reconstruction, during which original technologies were used. The building received slightly different colors and returned to its form from 1925 when all its parts were completed.

During the investigation of the fire, investigators found that the fire was not set intentionally and that it was not caused by a fault in the electrical installation. Investigators determined the source of the fire to be the chimney structure. The case then went to the district court in Vsetín, where, according to the indictment, the accident was caused by Pavel Pryszcz from Karviná, who neglected the repair of the chimney structures in 2007. The district court in Vsetín acquitted Pryszcz in June 2020. The acquittal was confirmed by the appeals court.