Kolín will repair the Church of St. Bartholomew for 80 million

Kolín - Kolín wants to renovate the Church of St. Bartholomew including the adjacent area. The work costing approximately 80 million crowns will be largely funded by the Integrated Regional Operational Program, with the city contributing ten percent. During the construction, the city will also replace the pavement, public lighting, add furniture, and thoroughly renovate the buildings of the belfry, ossuary, and old school. The year and a half of work is expected to begin in the spring of 2017. This was reported by Deputy Mayor Michael Kašpar.

The winning architectural firm from the autumn competition has experience with national monuments and UNESCO sites, Kašpar said. According to him, the firm completed the project last week, to which the municipality is now adding a feasibility study. The fact that the Church of St. Bartholomew area is a national cultural monument allowed for applying for European grants.

"It is essential for us that the project has been developed for the entire surrounding area of the church. The belfry will also be renovated, where a lapidarium and an exhibition of the church treasury will be created; the ossuary and the old school will also be renovated, where we will place a replica of an 18th-century classroom,” clarified Kašpar. The internal and external walls and green terraces are also set for restoration, where the city plans to create a barrier-free relaxation zone.

In the summer of this year, the city will evaluate the selection procedure according to the deputy mayor, and the actual work is expected to start in the spring of 2017. It will take approximately a year and a half.

The Church of St. Bartholomew in Kolín is a significant Gothic sacred building. It was constructed in the second half of the 13th century in the forms of early Gothic. From this construction phase, the three-nave layout with a pair of octagonal western towers has been preserved. In the 14th century, a completely new, tall, "cathedral" choir with a wreath of chapels was built by Peter Parler. At the beginning of the 16th century, the belfry was added. The church is on the list of national cultural monuments.