The association that was supposed to repair the chapel in Pardubice is in bankruptcy

Pardubice – The rescue of the dilapidated chapel of the Most Holy Trinity in Pardubice is not realistic in the near future. The association that was supposed to repair it in agreement with the city is in bankruptcy. This was said to CTK by Deputy Mayor Jakub Rychtecký. The city has been negotiating the restoration of the chapel since 2018. According to the insolvency register, the association Omnium owes millions of crowns.

Initially, the city wanted to demolish the chapel years ago, and the councilors approved 300,000 crowns for the demolition in September 2018. The Friends of Pardubice club disagreed with the city's move and criticized the actions of the city hall, stating that several small sacred monuments in the city area had already unnecessarily disappeared.

The chapel of the Most Holy Trinity dates back to 1860. Its ruins stand on the site of a wooden chapel that burned down. There was also an inn and a spa with a healing spring nearby. The wooden structure from 1793 gave its name to the district U Trojice.

The land has been city property since 1979, when the city hall purchased it from the owners. The chapel was not part of the purchase agreement. The owners of the chapel have died, and the heirs were unaware of the chapel's ownership.

Since 2018, the city hall has been negotiating with the heirs for the purchase; in 2021, an agreement was reached on a purchase price of 60,000 crowns. The same amount was invested by the magistrate into fencing the nearly collapsing structure, from which only some perimeter walls remain.

The city hall then negotiated with the Omnium association from Broumov in the Náchod region for the transfer of the chapel to its ownership. The association has been dedicated to the rescue and restoration of destroyed, endangered, or unused monuments since 2011, from small buildings, crosses, Stations of the Cross, to large sacred and non-sacred monuments in the Czech Republic.

"The city had a donation agreement with the Omnium association dated June 8, 2021. It was supposed to repair the chapel within ten years of acquiring ownership rights. However, last year, the association filed for insolvency," said the deputy mayor.

The city is therefore negotiating with the insolvency administrator. "It would be ideal to get the chapel back into our ownership. The city will now assert its rights so that it can seek other solutions," Rychtecký stated.

Omnium filed for insolvency last June and has been in bankruptcy since last July. The association was unable to carry out its activities during the pandemic, the construction industry was weakened, and there were no grants at the usual level, which led Omnium to payment incapacity, the association stated in the insolvency proposal. According to the insolvency register, 11 creditors have registered, and the unsecured claims amount to a total of 7.2 million crowns according to the extract from last October. One secured claim is for 934,000 crowns.