The unique church in Andělská Hora is at risk of losing its roof

Andělská Hora (Karlovy Vary) - The unique three-sided church of the Holy Trinity in Andělská Hora is at risk of losing its roof. It is in poor condition, and if the roof of the building from 1702 starts to leak, millions of crowns spent a few years ago on its reconstruction will be wasted. The municipality that owns the monument, however, does not have the funds for the estimated repair of the roof, which is at least one million crowns. The mayor, Miloslava Křimská, said this today to ČTK.
    The church, the only one of its kind in the Karlovy Vary region, has deteriorated in the past. The municipality has been striving for its preservation since 1990. It wasn't until 2004 that Andělská Hora received a grant of 25 million crowns from the Ministry of Culture, and after another year and a half, the church was reopened after repairs. "For incomprehensible reasons, the roof reconstruction was not done then. The shingles were only flipped and painted, not replaced. Now they have started to disintegrate, and when the wind blows, they fly off the roof," the mayor stated.
    She estimates that the roof will last for another year at most, barely any longer. Therefore, the mayor had a study prepared for the roof's restoration. However, the municipality cannot manage without outside help, given its annual budget of three million crowns. According to Křimská, the option of repairing with shingles is the most expensive. She has prepared two other repair alternatives using different materials. "But we must ask the heritage conservationists if they will approve something other than shingles," noted the mayor.
    The regional office of the National Heritage Institute in Loket has not yet addressed the issue of the church in Andělská Hora. Once the municipality approaches it with its request, it will address it. According to the director of the Loket office, Roman Procházka, it generally applies that what is original should be preserved, especially if the building is under heritage protection. "Of course, each case should be assessed specifically before we make a decision," he stated.
    The mayor of Andělská Hora noted that in the past, heritage conservationists had agreed to modifications. She cited the roofs of Loket Castle as an example. Its director, Václav Lojín, told ČTK that this case was somewhat different. "We wanted shingles instead of so-called tile shingles and proved that they had been on the roofs before. So we did not have problems with the heritage conservationists. However, shingles are very demanding in terms of maintenance, especially financially," he stated.
    Andělská Hora will try to obtain funds for the church's roof from grants. It will likely first turn to the Karlovy Vary Region, but it will also try elsewhere, Křimská noted. Two months ago, she also established a special account to support the roof project. "This year we also need to replace the interior lighting of the church for about 50,000 crowns. Last year we spent the same amount on exterior lighting," the mayor added.
    The church of the Holy Trinity, surrounded by a boundary wall, was built between 1696 and 1702 according to the design of the architect of the Černín family, Alliprandi. It stands on a symbolic triangular floor plan with chamfered corners. "The church is unique in that it follows the symbol of the sacred triangle in absolute detail. This is where its architectural significance exceeds the borders of our region," said historian Stanislav Burachovič from the Karlovy Vary Museum.