How is the project progressing in June 2025?

At this stage of the project implementation, the priority was to prepare the documentation for the construction of the renovation of the Pěnčín – Krásná rectory, which will be used in cooperation with the Saxon municipality of Oybin as an exhibition center. The documentation addresses not only the preservation and new use of the rectory, but also the adjacent parish garden. The documentation for the construction should be completed by the end of June 2025 and will be used to select the contractor for the construction, which should be implemented by autumn 2025.

The rectory is part of the foothill Baroque complex in Krásná. It stands directly opposite the Church of St. Joseph with the Plague Column of the Holy Trinity in the upper part of the original farmstead village, on land south of the main road, within sight of the house of the donor and builder of the entire complex, Jan Josef Antonín Eleazar Kittel (today the Kittel Museum). The rectory was built on the site of a presumed older homestead building, as the residence of the first local parish priest and son of the famous doctor, Filip Jakub Kittel, while the rectory building probably also served Doctor Kittel as a retreat in his last years of life.

The rectory was built in the second half of the 18th century. It is still in a very authentic, almost intact condition, partially disturbed only by repairs in the 20th century and more recently, yet it still contains a large number of original historical building elements, which we want to preserve as much as possible. The rectory is unique in its overall preserved, only slightly disturbed authenticity of material and craftsmanship. All original surfaces are valuable, whether clay plaster on the first floor with lime coatings and findings of historical painting, or lime plaster on the ground floor, vaults on the ground floor and flat ceilings with fabions with linear profiles. The rectory contains a pair of original tiled stoves. Among the remarkable elements are also the preserved dry toilets. All wooden plank and stone slab floors are worthy of protection. Among the most valuable elements of the house's authentic furnishings are the late Baroque and later door frames and interior panels, including remarkable ironwork and, above all, the two main Baroque entrance portals with original door panels.

Other project activities included contacting the authors of four partial concepts for the joint exhibition Krásná/Oybin on the topics of romantic painting, ceramics, pilgrimage sites, and legends in connection with cross-border migration and its influence on the development of the common region.