The coronavirus halted the construction of the Masaryk Tower in Hořice

Hořice – The almost three-year-long project for the completion of the heritage-protected Masaryk's Tower of Independence in Hořice, Jičín region, has ended due to the coronavirus crisis. The town of nine thousand residents withdrew from the project, estimated at 18 million crowns, because of a drop in income and the need to save. This was stated today by Deputy Mayor of Hořice Martin Pour (Hořice Patriots).

The sandstone Tower of Independence began construction on Hořický Chlum in 1926, where President Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk laid the foundation stone. By 1938, the tower had been built to a height of 25 meters, after which construction stopped. The tower was to be completed according to the original project to a height of 40 meters. The town hall proposed the completion of the tower in connection with the 100th anniversary of the founding of Czechoslovakia. They described the completion as a great symbolism and a strong story, which is quite rare in the Czech Republic.

For the completion, the town received a grant of six million crowns from the Hradec Králové Region and had another six million crowns prepared in its budget. The remaining five million crowns were to be obtained as a grant from the Ministry for Regional Development, and the rest was to be collected through donations from residents and businesses. Earlier this year, the town hall also selected a company that would complete the tower for a price of 17.5 million crowns excluding VAT.

"We were close, we even had a supplier, but unfortunately. Hopefully, some generation will fulfill it," Pour said. He noted that the completion of the tower was halted by Nazism, the Communists were also not favorable towards the construction, and now everything has been thwarted by the pandemic. The town hall believed that the completion could be finished by the end of 2022. Initially, they had planned for the year 2020, but securing funding for the construction delayed everything.

According to Pour, Hořice is expected to lose about 20 million crowns in tax revenue this year due to the coronavirus crisis, and an even greater shortfall is expected in 2021. "Therefore, the town has already moved to cuts totaling almost 20 million crowns," he said. Besides canceling the completion of Masaryk's Tower, the town will not replace windows at the elementary school, renovate the hospital facade, or build water pipelines in the industrial zone. They also dissolved all investment and non-investment reserves.

Masaryk's Tower is made of sandstone, with a museum and a memorial room containing the names of war victims on the ground floor. At the top, there is a gallery with a view of the Krkonoš panorama. The unfinished top of the tower is covered by an astronomical dome. On the side wings of the building, there are patriotic reliefs depicting, for example, the battles of the legions. The tower has been a cultural monument since 2014.