New ways in restauring the baroque frescos

Dear friends, honourable guests,

I am very pleased to be able to extend my heartfelt word of welcome to all of you who are taking part at this interantional conference held here in the center of Prague.

The theme of your conference, the new ways in restauring the baroque frescos is really crucial for this city, for our diocese and for our country in general as we have been blessed by many architectural monuments in the style of baroque.  For many years we have been facing their unsatisfactory state caused by forty years of culpable negligence from the side of the communist regime which bound intself to look after them but never did. In this sense it is a concern not only of ours who are the owners and caretakers of these treasures but also of the whole society. Globally speaking I would say that the whole of the continent of Europe, the cradle of this precious culture, bears the responsibility to care of these historic buildings. The wonderful art which we have inherited expresses the way of thinking and life of our forefathers. These are our roots which we rightly are proud of. We feel the responsibility for these treasures not only to the present times but also with the regard to the future generations. In our world, we are making many efforts to create the union. Facing these tremendous challenges we cannot stand alone, we need to proceed together, trying to overcome the challenges of our ecological situation and also of the agressive environment dammaging those monuments.

Let me officially open this conference with this word of greetings and let me wish good success to your extensive research. I honestly hope that many will be able to use its fruits.

Let your conference be now started and God´s blessing to all of you and to your work.

International Conference in Prague: New ways in restauring the baroque frescos, 12th December 2006