Sicherheit und Katastrophenschutz für Museen, Archive

The 2002 floods in the Czech Republic and their
impact on its built heritage
Josef Stulc
In August 2002, disastrous floods, surpassing all previous historical records,
hit a vast area of Bohemia. Hydrologists estimate that the water statistics
corresponded to those characteristic of a 500-year flood. Approximately
505 towns and villages were flooded, including cities whose historic cores
are protected conservation areas. Two of these, Prague and Cesky ´
Krumlov,
are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. During the floods the
Government had to declare a state of emergency in five regions of the
Czech Republic, thus enabling it to take extraordinary measures. The gross
estimate of the damage incurred is € 3 billion, of which some € 330 million is
accounted for by losses suffered in Prague itself.
As stone, brick and lime have been the preferred materials in Bohemian
architecture since the Middle Ages, our soundly built historic towns, as well
as churches, castles, country houses and other important components of our
built heritage, survived the floods in surprisingly good condition. Fortunately,
only a few really important monuments with valuable artistic decoration
suffered serious damage.
The broader survey of the impact of the floods on the stock of buildings
of vernacular character which are non-listed but nonetheless represent
traditional methods of construction is far less optimistic. Unlike the
monumental stone and brick structures, vernacular village and suburb
houses are often constructed from adobe (unfired brick), or a variety of
re-used materials, held together with very lean mortar. The flood had a fatal
impact on buildings of this type. A large number collapsed immediately,
while many others had to be demolished due to serious cracks and other
irreparable structural damage. In my view any (even the poorest) traditional
building has now become irreplaceable, because of the comprehensive
globalisation and standardisation of present-day building methods and
materials. Therefore, the collapse of so many traditional buildings must be
considered not only as material damage but also as a great and irreversible
cultural loss.
In Kooperation mit der ICOMOS-Tagung „Cultural Heritage and Natural Disasters“
The collections of museums and art galleries, libraries and archives
suffered terribly. Unfortunately, the depositories of these institutions
were frequently located on the basement and ground-floor levels of their
buildings. Many valuable items from their collections were lost, while a great
proportion of them could only be saved from the stinking mud in a very
damaged condition, and stored provisionally in large-capacity freezer units.
The greatest failures during the floods were in the areas of risk preparedness
and dissemination of advance warning information. In the past, people in
areas that were liable to frequent flooding never stored goods and materials
of high value in cellars or on the ground floors of their houses. They always
left the roof spaces of their houses free, so that they could transfer their
belongings there from the lower floors in times of flood. When the floods
were over, they never stripped out plaster but waited patiently until the
walls were dry again. They then limewashed the rooms and cellars and put
their furniture back.
This wise practice, born of long experience, has in recent times been
completely forgotten. During the last 10 to 12 years, the value of houses
situated in central parts of cities, including those in inundation zones, has
increased enormously. Their owners have therefore left no inch of useful
space unused. They have fitted new offices or flats into the roof spaces and
established shops or a variety of expensively equipped pubs, taverns, bars
etc. in basements and cellars. The result was that, when the floods came, they
had no opportunity to move their belongings to a safe place. The situation
was made even worse because no evacuation plans existed. The inhabitants
of Prague had been living for decades under the mistaken conviction that
the vast system of dams on the Vltava river gave the city complete protection
from high water. Warnings and objective information on the enormous scale
of the approaching flood were only released by the authorities a couple of
hours before the catastrophe arrived. Immediately thereafter, people had
to be evacuated in the shortest possible time, leaving all their belongings
behind.