In the collection for the restoration of the burned-down church, a million crowns have already been raised

Prague – In the public collection announced by the Prague City Hall for the restoration of the fire-damaged Church of St. Michael from the 17th century, people have contributed more than one million crowns since its announcement at the beginning of November. This was reported today by Prague spokesman Vít Hofman. The collection will last until November 4 of next year. The remains of the church in the Kinsky Garden are currently being documented, and a structure to protect the preserved parts is to be created afterward. The wooden church largely burned down on October 28 this year.

The church was owned by Prague, which will also finance its restoration using the collected funds. "The collection involves small donors, but also those who contribute tens of thousands of crowns. Due to the impacts of the coronavirus crisis, we will probably all have to dig deeper into our pockets, so I appreciate even more the people who are already participating in the restoration of the wooden Church of St. Michael, and I thank everyone very much," said Hana Třeštíková, Prague’s councilor for culture (Prague Together).

Preservationists from the National Heritage Institute (NPÚ) will create a 3D scan of the existing condition of the church free of charge, and its conservation will follow. In the coming weeks, a coordination meeting of representatives of the capital city with the Orthodox priest of the church will also take place, during which cooperation or assistance with cataloging and restoring the interior will be discussed. "At present, it is impossible to estimate how much the overall reconstruction will cost," said the spokesman.

The wooden church stood in Kinsky Garden since 1929 when it was disassembled and brought to Prague from the village of Velké Loučky near Mukachevo in what was then Subcarpathian Rus, now in Ukraine. It was a gift from the Rusyns to their then capital, Prague, as their typical folk construction. The church was part of the collections of the ethnographic department of the National Museum in Prague.

Similar fires have occurred before; in August 2017, a historic wooden church in Gutech, Frýdek-Místek, dating from the 16th century burned down, and in April 2002, flames destroyed the wooden Church of St. Catherine in Ostrava-Hrabová from the same period. In March 2014, the wooden cottage Libušín in Pustevny in the Beskids, designed by Dušan Jurkovič at the end of the 19th century, also burned down.