In Třinec, a wooden church from the 16th century burned down last night

Třinec - In the Třinec district of Guty, a wooden church from the 16th century burned down last night. The significant monument was practically destroyed. Preliminary estimates suggest damages could reach into the tens of millions, stated the spokesman for the Moravian-Silesian firefighters, Petr Kůdela, in a press release.

Firefighters received notification of the fire at the Church of the Body of Christ in Guty shortly after midnight. By the time the firefighters arrived, the church was already in flames. "The firefighters got the fire under control in less than an hour; the extinguishing continued until this morning," stated Kůdela. No one was injured in the fire.

The Roman Catholic filial, or secondary church in Guty, was a valuable monument with much original equipment and paintings from the first half of the 16th century. Between 2012 and 2014, the church was reconstructed at a cost of several million crowns.

According to the year engraved in the portal, it is possible that the church was built in 1563. However, it is not excluded that it is older. The first bell was installed in its tower in 1565 and still exists today. In 2001, it was stolen. A wave of outrage arose such that the thieves ultimately got rid of it. It was found without its clapper in a nearby Karpentná.

The church was built from large trunks of deciduous trees; the oldest hornbeams presumably grew by the Olše River as early as the time of the Great Moravian Empire. The interior of the church was later decorated with works by local artists living in the 17th and 18th centuries. In the 19th century, the church was repaired several times but retained its original Gothic-Renaissance appearance.

In Ostrava - Hrabová on April 2, 2002, a wooden church of St. Catherine from the 16th century, which was a national cultural monument, burned down. The material damage was about 20 million crowns, while the historical loss in this case is deemed incalculable by experts.