The island has left a message for generations at the top of St. Anne's chapel

Ostrov (Karlovy Vary) - Ostrov today placed a message for future generations into a gilded finial with a cross on the very top of the dome of the grave chapel of Saint Anne. The mayor, Jan Bureš, placed contemporary coins, written information about the city, and its history recorded in digital form into two special metal tubes. Craftsmen carried the finial up and secured it to the reconstructed chapel with rivets.
The placement of a message from the present was not easy according to Bureš due to the small size of the finial. That is why the documents are not in the usual container, but in two tubes with a diameter of four centimeters and a length of 20.5 centimeters. Even so, the mayor had his hands full before he managed to roll all the documents into a cylinder and tuck them inside.
"An overly large CD disk was replaced by a small USB flash drive. Inside are also copies of paper banknotes and seven coins from the year 2006. The tubes also contain a personal greeting from the mayor, the last two issues of the Ostrov Monthly, a brief description of the Historic Ostrov project, and today’s issue of the regional newspaper," noted Bureš.
The top of the grave chapel of Saint Anne is so difficult to access that the finial should not be threatened even by metal thieves. Moreover, it is located within a guarded monastery complex surrounded by a high wall. However, the mayor does not dare to estimate when someone will read Ostrov's message. According to him, it could be in 50 or even 100 years.
"When we were repairing the chapel in the cemetery some time ago, which is the oldest monument in the city, we found a similar message in the finial from the early 20th century. We placed that in the archive and replaced it with a new one. There was nothing in the finial on the chapel of Saint Anne. However, we discovered a message from soldiers from the 1970s in the neighboring monastery, which served as barracks," stated Bureš.
The grave chapel of the Dukes of Saxe-Lauenburg was founded in 1644 by Duke Julius Heinrich. It was completed and consecrated in 1663. This early Baroque octagonal chapel with side annexes was built on a quarried rocky terrace. The interior features a system of massive pillars forming a polygonal space with a dome shaped like an octagonal cupola.
The building underwent significant changes during the Baroque period. The original Baroque dome was replaced in the 19th century with a tent roof featuring a lantern. The property is owned by the city of Ostrov. The structure and interior have been damaged by the weather. In the 1990s, the building was temporarily covered with a cardboard roof. It is currently undergoing restoration as part of the Historic Ostrov project. The costs are around 150 million crowns, of which approximately 100 million crowns have been provided to the city by the European Union.
The chapel of Saint Anne will serve as an exhibition hall with a permanent exhibition of Baroque architecture. It will document the development of Baroque architecture in the region, construction methods in the Baroque era, and the main compositional and architectural principles. "It will also present the House of Saxe-Lauenburg and its role as builders who created a unique complex of Baroque monuments in Ostrov. The personal and artistic relationships between Ostrov and Rastatt at the time should also be highlighted," added Bureš.