News

St. John's Tower in Frýdek Opens on Friday Thanks to the OKD Foundation

FRÝDEK-MÍSTEK (May 26, 2011) - For the first time in modern history, the public can begin to regularly visit the St. John's Tower of the Church of the St. John the Baptist in Frýdek-Místek. In recent years, the parish provided for the repairs of this striking feature of the city that overlooks the surrounding area. Now, thanks to the grant from the OKD Foundation, inside the tower it will offer an exhibition on the history of the church, the tower and the parish, as well as of works by local artists. So far, the tower was open only one or two days a year. “In addition to regular visits to the tower and the permanent exhibitions, we would also like to hold concerts in these unusual premises that would feature young artists,“ said Miroslav Přikryl from the Filip Neri Association, which was the main instigator of the opening of the tower to the public. For the visitors, interesting information about the history of the parish of Frýdek is prepared in the tower. “Included in the exhibition are several three-dimensional exhibits from the depository of the Frýdek parish. They mostly include objects that have not been exhibited so far, such as a fragment of a late Gothic church portal, a baroque sandstone sculpture of St. John of Nepomuk and a functional bell of St. Barbara from 1850,“ added Mr. Přikryl. The tower will also accommodate an art gallery. Currently its visitors can admire the works by David Korbička, a sculptor, action artist and light installations creator, a minimalist installation of ordinary objects by Oldřich Morys and a sound installation using the sounds of bells by Lucie Vitkova. The tower was added to the original Gothic church of St. John the Baptist, which did not have a large tower, in the 17th century. The construction began in 1605 and in the complicated situation of the Thirty Years' War it lasted until 1650. After that it had undergone many alterations, it was damaged by a large fire and the roof gained its present appearance in the early 20th century. It has always served as a belfry and a clock tower. The idea of opening the tower to the public emerged 15 years ago. Since then, the internal structures were gradually restored and some ladders were replaced with a steel spiral staircase that meets the requirements for public use, with the help of grants of the Ministry of Culture and of the Frydek-Mistek municipality. “After that, we just needed to decide what to offer inside the tower and how we will provide for the functioning of the project. A donation from the OKD Foundation helped us in that,“ said Mr. Přikryl. The tower will be open to the public for the first time on Friday 27 May at 6 p.m. A programme has been prepared that will take place almost until midnight. In the following days of the summer season, the tower will be open every Friday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Vladislav Sobol

Spokesman of the OKD Foundation

telephone:       596 262 293
mobile:            725 595 417
e-mail:             vladislav.sobol@okd.cz