Jemnice in the Třebíč region wants to renovate the Neoclassical mausoleum

photo: www.npu.cz

Jemnice - The neoclassical tomb of the Pallavicini family in Jemnice in the Třebíč region is in poor technical condition and is being damaged by thieves. The town continues to offer the tomb for sale while also trying to preserve it. It has prepared a repair project costing several tens of millions of crowns. For the first time, it is requesting funding for repairs from the Architectural Heritage Rescue Program, said Deputy Mayor Petr Novotný.

The tomb was first robbed in 1954. In the 1990s, thieves destroyed the marble sarcophagi. Later, they attempted to dismantle the copper roof. In 2015, they stole a cast-iron fence worth 250,000 crowns and eventually also a camera trap placed at the entrance to the tomb.

This year, the town plans to invest two million crowns and start with the roof repairs. The commencement of work will depend on the approval of subsidies. The town will find out in February whether its application to the Ministry of Culture was successful, said Zdeněk Šálek, head of the investment and development department of the Jemnice town hall.

The National Heritage Institute lists the tomb, built between 1901 and 1902, among the 21 endangered monuments in the Vysočina region. "The condition of the tomb is alarming," stated Ilona Ampapová from the NPÚ office in Telč. "The Pallavicini family, who were the last owners of the Jemnice estate from 1842 to 1945, had significant connections at the Vienna court. At their initiative, the castle complex in Jemnice was fundamentally reconstructed, and a unique neoclassical family mausoleum was built on the hill by the road to Chotěbudice. Its design was developed by Vienna architects Otto Hofer and Wilhelm Zech," said Ampapová. Inside the tomb, built in the shape of an isosceles cross, there is a three-meter bronze cross with Christ by the Czech sculptor Ignác Weirich. A similar work by Weirich is located in the Vatican according to Novotný. The author of the altar architecture on which the cross is placed is likely Josip Plečnik, noted Ampapová.

The tomb is closed to the public. Exceptional tours took place in 2012 on the occasion of its 100th anniversary. According to Novotný, around two thousand people visited it then. In 2015, the town invested over 100,000 crowns in the revitalization of the park surrounding the tomb.

With the gradual reconstruction of historical buildings, made possible by funding from the Architectural Heritage Rescue Program, Jemnice has experience. Between 2004 and 2015, it repaired the Gothic Church of St. Vitus, which used to be part of the Franciscan monastery thanks to this program. "The most important thing is to get a specific monument into the grant programs at all. Once you have received support and are doing reasonable accounting and repairs, you have a good chance of getting funding again," added Šálek.