In Ivančice, they moved the chapel with a crane due to the road widening

Ivančice - This afternoon, they moved the neo-baroque chapel in Ivančice, Brno region, by several meters. The Ivančice town hall is planning the repair of the road through the Letkovice district and the road cannot be built around the chapel in a way that meets the standards. The complicated operation, which had been planned for several weeks, was originally supposed to take place in the morning, but complications arose.

"We attached the chapel to the crane and tried to lift it, but due to the vacuum, one part remained stuck to the ground. It was necessary to undermine this part and force air underneath it to detach it," described the difficulties by the mayor of Ivančice, Milan Buček (TOP 09).

After several hours, two cranes successfully tested the structure again and this time lifted it without problems to a height of 30 centimeters. It remained to prepare the track for the shift since it was necessary to change the cable attachments, and shortly before 5:00 PM, the relocation of the structure by three meters was successful.

The city will spend 2.5 million crowns to move the chapel of St. John of Nepomuk and the Virgin Mary from 1864. It had to be relocated due to the reconstruction of the village square and the construction of a new road. "The solution with the original location of the chapel would have been extremely complicated, so we decided to have it moved," added the deputy mayor of Ivančice, Jaroslav Sojka (ODS).

The chapel stood at a bend in the main road and several passing vehicles collided with it. The last time was last year when a drunk driver crashed into the building with a van. "To prevent the chapel from collapsing, we had it completely repaired for 300 thousand crowns. Where it was possible to reinforce the masonry, it was reinforced," the deputy mayor added.