The bell tower of the church in Stará Voda near Libavá in the Olomouc region is in critical condition

Olomouc – The ceiling, trusses, and plaster of the pilgrimage church of Saint James the Greater and Saint Anne in Stará Voda near Libavá in the Olomouc region are, according to experts, in a state of emergency. Without immediate intervention, the monument could be irreversibly damaged. The managers of the building are striving to obtain funds for the church's rescue. The first step will be to build scaffolding and repair the most at-risk areas, said the administrator of the pilgrimage site, Aleš Tománek, to ČTK. The complete reconstruction of the church is estimated to cost 120 million crowns.

The critical condition of the monument is highlighted by the association of the Pilgrimage Site Stará Voda together with the City of Libavá, which owns the church. According to Tománek, the current condition of the church has been affected not only by years of devastation by the army but also by decades of neglected maintenance. "The church suffered damage first from the Czechoslovak People's Army in the 1950s and 60s and subsequently from the Soviet army after 1968. Equally devastating were the following 40 years without maintenance and more than 30 years since the 1990s, when there has been virtually no intervention in the interior," stated Tománek.

The most significant concerns arise from the condition of the ceiling and vaults. Moisture penetrating into the masonry causes peeling of historical stucco, frescoes, and the plaster itself. According to Tománek, the plaster today resembles "powdered sugar on a cake," and with a slight tremor, pieces of decoration fall to the ground. Last year, a protective net had to be installed in the church after a piece of plaster the size of a chicken egg detached from the ceiling.

The association had a structural, static, and restoration survey conducted. The conclusions of all assessments, according to Tománek, agree that the reconstruction cannot be postponed any longer. Experts began restoring the most valuable wall frescoes this year thanks to funds from the emergency fund of the Ministry of Culture. They depict the allegories of the four continents, two of which are already completed.

Key to saving the ceiling and trusses will be the construction of a wooden scaffold inside the church. The Olomouc archbishopric provided wood worth about 750,000 crowns for its construction, and the entire structure will cost approximately one million crowns. "We currently lack about 240,000 crowns for the scaffolding to begin. The contract has already been signed, and construction will start in early October," said the administrator.

Next year, the church administrators must find an additional two million crowns for the basic reinforcement of the most threatened sections of the ceiling and vaults. However, even potential grant programs will not cover all costs, so co-financing will need to be secured through donations. "We would be pleased if a partner or company could become a patron for the restoration of one of the architectural gems of early Baroque Moravia," stated Tománek. The cost of repairing the ceiling is estimated at approximately 15 million crowns, while experts estimate the total cost for the church's restoration at around 120 million crowns.

The Church of Saint James the Greater and Saint Anne is the only surviving structure reminiscent of the former village of Stará Voda, which was abandoned in 1946. The church was designed by Giovanni Pietro Tencalla, the same architect responsible for the Kroměříž chateau and the pilgrimage church on the Holy Hill near Olomouc.