Baroque timber roof above the Church of the Nativity, the work of the Master Carpenters J. Král and J. Löffler, who worked for the architect K. Dientzehnofer, was sensitively restored with the financial support of the City of Prague and the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.

During the years 2018 and 2019, a demanding repair of the Baroque timber roof of the Church of the Nativity in Loreto Sanctuary, took place.

The timber roof and roof crash caused the leak and threatened the excellent baroque frescoes in the church interior. Thanks to the financial support of the Capital City of Prague, which provided Grant for owners of monuments of significant importance, and the Ministry of Culture in the Czech Republic, which provided a subsidy under the Emergency Program, the Capuchin Order could carry out a demanding reconstruction of the endangered part of the original Baroque timber roof and the related replacement of the entire roof .

According to the latest research, the carpenter master Jiří Král participated in the oldest part of the Loreto Church of the Nativity of Our Lord in 1715-16, who also cooperated with the architect of the building Kryštof Dientzenhofer on other realizations, eg the reconstruction of the Lesser Town Hospital in Košíře.

The participation of Josef Löffler, the Court Master Carpenter, is reliably documented at the timber roof above the eastern part of the Church of the Nativity, which is a truly magnificent work. Löffler was a neighbor and at the same time a close friend and collaborator of the younger of both Dientzenhofers, Kilian Ignaz, with whom he met on this Loreto contract.

Source: J. Bláha, The roofs of Loreto in Prague, in: P. Bašta, M. Baštová (edd.), Dientzenhofers and Loreto, The story of Loreto Facade, Anthology of Essays and Exhibition Catalogue, Praha 2017

photo: Vladimír Přibyl