The Czech government has decided to build an exact replica of the Church of St. Michael the Archangel, which burned down last year in Prague. The original church had been brought to the Czech Republic, by pieces, from Zakarpattia region back in 1929.
That’s according to Transcarpathia.net.
On October 28, 2020, the temple caught fire and burned to the ground. As reported by local media, the police ruled out technical issues as the cause of fire. The human factor is believed to be most plausible.
Funds for the reconstruction of the exact copy are already being raised by the Czech community. According to the mayor of the Czech capital, Zdenek Grzyb, “both smaller donors and those who invest tens of thousands of crowns are involved in fundraising.” The fundraiser was announced early November 2020.
Now the Visa Charitable Foundation together with the Zakarpattia Regional Museum of Folk Architecture and Lore wrote a letter to the Prague Mayor and Ukraine Ambassador to the Czech Republic Yevhen Perebyinis, expressing will to join the restoration of the relic.
In the letter, the Ukrainians expressed the importance of the church being built on the Zakarpattia land by local craftsmen using local timber. The Zakarpattia Regional Museum, together with philanthropists, is ready to find such experts, provide them with exact copies of blueprints, and ensure transportation.
“There’s hope that our church community will bring to the church a beautiful iconostasis. Thus, the church will continue to properly represent Zakarpattia culture and spirituality in the Czech capital, the letter reads.
The Church of Archangel Michael is a unique monument of Ukrainian folk architecture with a hard fate.
In the 17th century, it was built in the village of Velyki Luchky near Mukachevo. The architecture of the church was close to the so-called Boyko style. A rectangular building with an area of only 112 square meters, with a tower and two tent-shaped vaults, was erected without a single nail. But local peasants had no sufficient funds to maintain the church so in 1793 they sold it to the wealthier village of Medvedivtsi. The building was dismantled into bars and logs, each particle was numbered and transported. The church then served there for 130 years.
During the time of Subcarpathian Rus, the church was dismantled again and transported by train to Prague, where it enriched the collection of the National Museum of Czechoslovakia. In 2008 it was handed over to the Orthodox Church of the Czech and Slovak faithful.
It should be recalled that more than a million kronas has already been raised for the reconstruction of the Ukrainian church destroyed by fire in Prague.
