Position of the Czech National Committee of ICOMOS on the completion of the Helfštýn Castle

In autumn 2021, the Czech Architecture Award was won for the "Restoration of the Palace of Helfštýn Castle", executed between 2017 and 2020 according to the project of the Olomouc architectural studio-r. The investor was the Olomouc Region, and the user of the building is the Comenius Museum in Přerov. The construction was carried out in accordance with the guidelines of the National Heritage Institute, which subsequently selected it as "a significant achievement in heritage care that deserves attention". The NPÚ appreciates in the text on its official website the "emergence of unique contemporary architecture at Helfštýn Castle" and an "somewhat bold and experimental approach to the restoration". It further specifies that "in 2010, the territorial expert workplace of the NPÚ in Olomouc established conditions for preserving the authentic appearance of the building, which still allowed for the emergence of a unique and modern solution".

At the Czech National Committee ICOMOS, in contrast to this, a number of heritage care professionals, cultural sector workers, and the general public have expressed criticism of the current modifications at Helfštýn Castle. At the same time, the Czech National Committee is repeatedly called upon to take an expert stance on this action. After a detailed inspection of the castle by members of the Scientific Committee for Castles and Chateaus at the Czech National Committee ICOMOS, and after discussion in the executive committee, the leadership of the Czech National Committee ICOMOS states:

Helfštýn Castle embodies heritage values and is therefore listed among cultural monuments. The preservation of these values should be a key criterion for the quality of the revitalization intervention from the perspective of heritage care. In the case of solitary tormented monuments located in the landscape, like Helfštýn Castle, the tormented state of preservation itself also belongs among the carriers (attributes) of heritage value, as does its physical, visual, and emotionally perceived closeness to the surrounding nature. Central European heritage authorities agreed on this more than a hundred years ago. The sustained intense tourist interest in so-called ruins in nature is not in conflict with this professional opinion.

Since 1952, Helfštýn Castle has been managed by public museums; first in Olomouc, and from 1960 in Přerov. From the beginning, a multifunctional "cultural use" that transcends the framework of presenting a conserved monument was anticipated. Creating an environment for artistic performances, their infrastructure, and related exhibitions can be perceived as a fundamentally appropriate way to utilize the castle's remains, provided that certain conditions are met, ensuring that it does not lead to the loss of heritage values, provided that they are considered. In conservation, or structural restoration treatment of the preserved mass, with maximum regard for the interpretive value of individual authentic elements, new elements necessary for safety and comfort of the required operation can be added to this mass, as long as this operation is rationally and adequately dimensioned and the new elements do not transform, obscure, but rather sensitively and considerately complement the preserved values.

In the case of Helfštýn Castle, this has not happened. Regarding the current modifications in the castle grounds, we state:

1. The search for options to protect the palace's layout is legitimate, as is the request from heritage care that the protective roofing does not disrupt the established silhouette of the castle. However, the modification made does not fulfill this role. The implemented method of horizontal roofing, hidden behind the crown of the masonry, does not guarantee reliable protection, which is evident even now in the winter period. Moreover, parts of the layout were left completely without roofing. Inspection of the palace spaces with massive snowdrifts and areas of heavily soaked structures confirms this. It is evident that the improperly chosen technical solution will soon worsen the condition of authentic constructions instead of providing protection and will strongly threaten the monument in the long run.
2. The authentic matter of the palace's ruins was affected by a number of very insensitive modifications in the second half of the twentieth century. However, this cannot in any way justify or excuse resignation on qualified, heritage-acceptable treatment of the monument. On the contrary, even greater care should have been devoted to the tormented structure, which in many ways remained spared from unprofessional interventions in the past. It cannot be overlooked that instead, numerous interventions were made into the authentic mass, including the demolition of masonry of late Gothic origin. The heritage values of historical details have in many instances been obscured by completely inappropriate, significant mechanical surface repointing bordering on bad taste.

The Czech National Committee ICOMOS regrets to state that the entire history of care for Helfštýn Castle from the 1950s to the present represents primarily a cautionary example of how a monument and its values can be sacrificed (in the words of Max Dvořák) to ignorance, poorly understood ideas of progress, and false desires for beautification. The Czech National Committee ICOMOS registers the fact that the current award for the restoration of Helfštýn Castle's palace relies on rhetoric that combines avant-garde clichés about "courage" with a purist emphasis on stylistic "design". Truly modern and simultaneously timeless aspects of care for architectural heritage, such as scientific precision in material research, craftsmanship, and artistic diligence in restoration treatment, or overall environmental friendliness of the intervention, are not represented here.

The Czech National Committee ICOMOS believes that the role of the National Heritage Institute is to provide a clear and comprehensive identification of the values of protected objects and to unequivocally advocate for their preservation. If this is not achieved for various reasons, at the very least a critical reflection of the causes is necessary to make it clear that the object does not represent a model worthy of emulation.

Prof. Ing. arch. akad. arch. Václav Girsa

Chairman of the Scientific Committee for Castles and Chateaus at the Czech National Committee ICOMOS
President of the Czech National Committee ICOMOS

Prague, January 31, 2022