The railing of Charles Bridge began to be repaired without permission

Prague - The criticized repair of the railings of Charles Bridge has begun, without prior approval from the relevant heritage department. The investor, the city of Prague, only requested a binding statement from the heritage specialists after the start of the ministerial inspection. When the bridge repairs began, there was only a binding statement from the heritage specialists regarding the repair of the bridge deck. The owner of the heritage site should not have allowed the repair of the railings to commence, said Jiří Varhaník, director of the heritage inspection, to ČTK today.
    According to the inspection, the owner of the bridge, the city of Prague, has violated several points of the heritage law during the current restoration of the monument. For example, it did not submit documentation regarding the repair of the stone railings and adjacent areas to the state heritage care authority and did not request its binding statement. This statement is a decision on whether the intended works are permissible from the perspective of state heritage care and under what conditions they can be carried out. The department of the city investor should request a binding statement from the municipal heritage care department.
    The railings currently being repaired are the subject of criticism from the heritage inspection - it has identified two areas of wrongdoing. The first relates to preparation and are, according to Varhaník, not administrative errors but legal ones. The restoration was initially carried out without notifying archaeologists, which is mandatory. The owner did not have an updated construction-historical survey and did not ensure the survey of stonemasonry marks.
    The second area of wrongdoing, according to the inspection, pertains to the repair itself. Allegedly, more stone blocks were replaced than recommended by the diagnostic survey. Experts object to the method of cutting stone and to the fact that some newly placed blocks protrude in some places while in others, they are recessed, with differences of up to several centimeters – the new pieces do not match the original shape and dimensions.
    The city, as the owner of the heritage site, disagrees with the criticisms and is expected to respond by Friday. The National Heritage Institute also views the inspection's findings with reservation, referring to poorly executed repairs of the bridge from the 1970s, when unsuitable mortar was used, leading to cracks in the stone blocks, and water ingress into the bridge. Minister of Culture Václav Jehlička stated on Wednesday that errors occurred during the current repairs, but he believes they can still be corrected as the work is not yet completed.