Illustrative photo – Restorers are repairing rare paintings in the Holy Stairs building in the area of Rumburska Loreta. Repairs for 910,000 crowns will be completed in September. The entire building will be completed in 2012, after which the pilgrimage site will be re-consecrated.
Banská Štiavnica (Slovakia)/Prague – The situation after the extensive fire in Banská Štiavnica, which destroyed historic buildings in the center of this central Slovak city on Saturday, is stabilized. With reference to the Ministry of the Interior, the TASR agency reported on this today. No one died or was injured in the fire. The help of Czech restorers in the restoration of destroyed or damaged monuments was offered to Slovakia today by President Petr Pavel, who talked to his Slovak colleague Zuzana Čaputová on the phone. According to Pavel, representatives of the National Museum are already in contact with the crisis team in Banská Štiavnica.
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The mayor of the city, Nadežda Babiaková, declared a state of emergency due to the fire. Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger, who visited the scene of the accident on Saturday, will convene an extraordinary meeting of the government to allocate funds for aid after the fire, wrote the Pravda daily, but did not specify a specific date. which are intended to prevent the fire from spreading again,” said Zuzana Eliášová, spokeswoman for the Slovak Ministry of the Interior. She added that the city management declared a state of emergency due to the fire, which residents were informed about on local radio.
Eliášová confirmed that the fire did not cause any casualties or injuries. “Only one volunteer firefighter suffered mild intoxication (from the smoke),” she added.
A fire broke out in Banská Štiavnica on Saturday morning in one of the buildings in the historic center of this town of ten thousand people, whose historic part is a monument reserve and is on the UNESCO World Heritage List. It gradually spread to other buildings and damaged a total of seven buildings, the TASR agency reported today. The cause of the fire is under investigation, local media speculate that it may have been caused by a short circuit.
Dozens of professional firefighters, volunteer firefighters and soldiers intervened at the scene of the fire. Dozens of local residents also helped with the removal of rare objects from the museum and gallery. A public collection was also created on social networks to help with the restoration of damaged buildings.
“The most serious damage is to the Berggericht building. We assume that the extent of the damage will be fatal, the statics of the building may also be at risk, which will be assessed by a structural engineer in the next few hours,” the Ministry of the Environment said on social media. In the so-called Berggericht there is, among other things, the mineralogical exhibition of the Slovak Mining Museum (SBM), which has closed exhibitions in three buildings in the city until further notice.
The Jozef Kollár Gallery is also closed after Saturday's fire, which was not damaged by the fire, but the areas adjacent to the Berggericht are wet due to extinguishing. “We managed to evacuate the entire exposition, depositories and exhibitions together,” said SBM director Zuzana Denková.
The Old Castle, the castle complex, to which rare collection items from the exhibitions were moved on Saturday, is also temporarily closed due to the fire. of affected buildings.
The Czech Republic, through Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský, offered immediate help to Slovakia already on Saturday afternoon. Today, Čaputová stated on social networks that she had spoken with Pavel, who offered Slovakia help in the restoration of rare monuments belonging to the UNESCO cultural heritage.
“He mainly offered professional restoration capacities. I greatly appreciate this show of solidarity,” wrote the Slovak the president. She also appreciated the selfless help and solidarity of the city's residents, tourists and volunteers. She highlighted the deployment of firefighters and other rescue services. Thanks to them, it was possible to get the fire under control and prevent even more damage to rare buildings, Čaputová added.
Pavel said on Twitter that the Czech Republic will provide specialist capacities for the reconstruction and restoration of damaged buildings. “The representative of our National Museum is already in contact with the crisis team in Banská Štiavnica. He is involved in determining the extent and type of damage to the affected buildings, as well as the ways in which we can best help,” wrote the Czech president.
