The surveys of the façade of the National Theatre have been completed, and repairs are starting

Prague - The dismantling of the golden crown of the railing on the roof of the historic building of the National Theatre in Prague (ND), preparatory work for the rescue of the trig sculpture, repairs to the roofing and the sheathing of the dormers are the first ongoing phase of the reconstruction of the façade of the "golden chapel." "Given the weather, this will probably be everything for this year; the next phase will begin in spring with the new construction season," said the administrative director of the Czech national stage, Tomáš Heinzel, to ČTK today. The reconstruction is expected to cost 160 million crowns.
    The necessity to repair the envelope of the historic ND building has been discussed for several years. Even pedestrians who looked at the historic trigs from the Vltava or National Avenue this year could easily see that they had to be wrapped with textile harnesses attached to an iron structure for stability. At the end of 2006, it was decided to repair them directly on the roof. One of the prancing horses stands only on its left hind leg, as the other, dismantled one, revealed the original bracing of the sculpture. A crack had appeared on the right leg, which began to break. In this case, it may be a manufacturing defect that appeared already during the casting of the sculpture - the break had been covered from the inside with a bronze patch.
    The façade of the "golden chapel" is considerably chipped. Some elements are loose and cracked. The cracks are not just a matter of plaster; they reach down to the masonry. Moreover, it has been 23 years since the six-year general reconstruction was completed.
    The damaged decorative column on the embankment side of the building, to which the theatre's management called the fire department during the pre-Christmas storms of 2005, signaled the need for urgent care. To ensure that no possible repair procedures are underestimated and any complications are addressed, it was decided to work in phases. Work will begin on the north side of the building against the Slavia café and all horizontal structures, namely external balconies and terraces. It will involve all types of work that will then take place on the other sides of the building.
    "The building on the Vltava embankment, surrounded by traffic, is in atypically extreme conditions. During the former regime, there was a rush, and some technologies were perhaps not fully implemented. Development has advanced; today we can replace some methods with considerably better quality ones, yielding better results for the future," Heinzel previously told ČTK.
    The challenging project of repairing the sculpture decorations of the National Theatre has been addressed by the Citizens' Forum Foundation since 2000. According to restorer Michael Blažek, the problems in the rescue work were primarily caused by interventions from 1983, carried out hastily, unprofessionally, and with untested technologies. Large concentrations of impregnating coatings practically destroyed the surface of the Hořice sandstone.