Church of Our Lady in Grunta - Saving of Rural Site

About this project

<p style="text-align: justify"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>The aim of</strong> <strong>this project is to save the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Grunta, which is an important Neo-Romanesque-Art Nouveau cultural monument and is one of the largest and most valuable rural buildings of this type. The artistically most interesting and valuable part of the whole church is its interior wall painting, which is unparalleled in the Czech countryside.</strong> <strong>The main essence of the problem is the state of emergency of this monument.</strong></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12px">The salvation of the church consists of carrying out construction and restoration work, which will restore the church. First of all, subsoil and foundations will be stabilized in order to avoid the spread of static failures and possible subsequent collapse. The trusses of the nave, presbytery and towers will be repaired as well as the copper roofing on the towers. The damp masonry in the interior of the plinth area will be fixed, the external facade will be restored securing the masonry and cracks in the walls, vaults and floor will be repaired. Further activities will involve the restoration of stone elements in the interior, top crosses and stained-glass windows. Also, the wiring and interior lighting will be renovated. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12px">We aim to open the cultural heritage of our country to wider public. We will carry out a bilateral activity together with a Norwegian partner in the form of cooperation on the opening of the church building for all and its new function in the contemporary society. With the help of partners of the Church Nursery School of St. Jakub in Kutná Hora and the Two-Year Catholic High School and Nursery School we will create educational programs aimed at involving children and young people as an important part of preserving cultural heritage and contributing to national and cultural identity. In partnership with the Museum Association “The Čáslavská Bee” we will create an information leaflet that will raise awareness of the cultural monument, its renewal and support from the EEA funds.</span></span></p>

Bilateral cooperation results

The Norwegian partner carried out 3 inspection trips within the project. The first trip took place at the beginning of the project implementation, when the partner provided us with experience in implementing similar projects and also participated in the project opening ceremony. As part of the second inspection trip, a professional seminar on the topic "Churches Open to All" was organized. At the seminar, the Norwegian partner presented the possibilities of presenting sacral monuments to the general public by connecting these monuments with modern art and further presented other options for making sacral monuments more attractive to the public and all groups of the population so that no one feels excluded. As part of the third visit, the partner participated in the church opening ceremony and further possibilities of further cooperation on the topics that were the subject of the seminar were discussed.

Project partners

• Church of Norway Donor project partner· Norway
• Church Nursery School of St. Jacob in Kutná Hora Project partner· Czechia
• Two-year Catholic High School and Nursery School Project partner· Czechia
• Muzeum and Local History Association "Včela Čáslavská" Project partner· Czechia
• Municipality of Grunta Project partner· Czechia