Orthodox Church of St. Michael to be Reconstructed After Devastating Fire

The Orthodox Church of St. Michael in the Kinský Garden in Prague 5 will be reconstructed more than two years after the fire.

Over 1.9 million CZK have been publicly gathered towards its rebuilding.

The full income of 1,904,454 CZK will be utilized to equip the inside of the new church. According to a press statement from the City of Prague, the construction would cost between 30 and 40 million CZK. However, the exact cost has yet to be established.

The so-called Carpathian little church burned down in October 2020 during the coronavirus crisis. However, even that did not stop generous donors.

“The two million crowns demonstrates how much people care about the restoration of this unique sacred monument, which is valuable for its architecture and place of origin. I sincerely appreciate every single donor. Thanks to their generous contributions, Prague can finally start rebuilding it after more than two years,” thanked Jiří Pospíšil (TOP 09), Deputy Mayor for Culture, Tourism, and Heritage Conservation.

The measures for getting a construction permit for the building’s refurbishment are being taken. The planning for the contractor’s selection is also ongoing.

However, development cannot begin until next year. The reason for this is carpentry processes that need trees to be felled during the winter when they have less sap and are simpler to deal with.

The St. Michael’s Church was physically relocated to Prague in 1929, to celebrate the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the annexation of Carpathian Ruthenia (the Subcarpathian region) into then-Czechoslovakia after WWI.

The entirely-wooden church was disassembled and moved to Prague from the village of Medvědovce near Mukačevo, situated on today’s Ukrainian side of the Slovak- Hungarian- Ukrainian border area in the Carpathian Mountains, but was moved once before from its original birthplace in the village of Velké Loučky in the same region, in 1793.

Since 2008 the wooden church has been used by the Orthodox Church in Bohemia and Slovakia.