The leaning tower of the church in Ústí could open to tourists

Ústí nad Labem - The path to making the fourth most tilted tower in Europe accessible began in Ústí nad Labem. A specialized company today digitally measured the tower of the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, which was tilted during the bombing of the city in 1945.

The tower is already remarkable for visitors to the regional town. In the future, it could become a tourist attraction. The owner of the church is the Roman Catholic Church. The Ústí Community Foundation has offered to raise money from private donors for the preparation of the project and its potential realization. "The first donations have already come in at around 100,000 crowns, which we are using to fund the measurement of the building. It is a very demanding process, and just finding a company technically capable of measuring such a complex structure as a tilted tower precisely was not easy," said the foundation's representative Kateřina Valešová.

Three contacted specialists declined the contract, but today the unique structure was measured by a company that accepted the offer. It required special equipment in the form of a 3D scanner for the measurement.

Further funds acquired by the foundation are intended for the development of architectural designs. Architect Martin Rajniš, known mainly for the design of the new Post Office at Sněžka, will take charge of them. The final form of the new access to the tower will then be selected by a professional committee that includes representatives of the church and preservationists.

The community foundation is preparing a public fundraising campaign for the actual construction, which could take the form of symbolic sales of individual new stair steps. Interested parties could thus own a specific step to the tower. "Whether the tower will eventually be opened to the public and what the final form of the new access will be depends on the decision of the church as the owner of the building," Valešová stated.

It is still unclear whether the city would be involved in the potential operation of the tower. "Discussions are taking place between the statutory city of Ústí nad Labem, archdeacon Miroslav Šimáček, and the Ústí Community Foundation," said city hall spokeswoman Jitka Stuchlíková to ČTK today.

The tilted tower of the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary leans more than two meters from the vertical at its height of sixty meters. "It is the most tilted tower in the Czech Republic and far beyond the borders of neighboring countries. It acquired this handicap during World War II, when it tilted and cracked after being hit by an aerial bomb. At that time, it seemed that it would soon collapse. Later, however, the people of Ústí supported it with a wooden structure, and ultimately it was complicatedly secured with the help of concrete injection into the foundations and a reinforced concrete shell inside the tower," described Ústí historian Martin Krsek to ČTK.

During the bombing, the original stair annex, which led to the tower, collapsed and was not rebuilt during the reconstruction. Today, it is only possible to access the tower via a cumbersome route through the attic of the church nave.

Among the currently largest attractions in Ústí are the cable car to the Větruše Castle, Střekov Castle, and the zoo. Tourists also frequently visit observation towers that offer views of the Elbe valley. This year, the city plans to open the Větršuše educational trail, which will lead to the Civil Defense Museum, a new information center for cyclists is expected to be established near the train station, and personal boat transport could also expand. The Labská královna project for families with children will continue this year as well.