T-Mobile helps protect listed buildings in the Louny district

• The wall surrounding the Vidhostice church will be restored by June
• Restorers are working on the unique tower clock of the Pátek castle

Prague, 25 March 2008 - The Czech countryside often boasts so many interesting sights that not all of them make it into tourist guides, let alone into offers of foreign travel agencies, and many of them even lack the status of a listed building. On the other hand, there are many of those which, though listed as a cultural heritage sites, fall into disrepair or even perish due to lack of money. It often requires the local people to intervene on behalf of their favorite buildings and structures and try to find possible ways to save them.

"People are becoming more and more interested in the places in which they live, care more about their municipalities and about the buildings that their ancestors built there, and are making these sights important again for their respective locations in the way they used to be in the past. These small, local activities are very important for the preservation of our country's cultural heritage, and of the typical landscape of the Czech countryside," says Martina Kemrová, Senior Head of Corporate Communication at T­Mobile.

The local residents of Vidhostice, a small village in the foothills of the Doupovské hory mountain range, decided to stop the impending ruin of their quaint village church and set up the Association for the Preservation of St. Martin's Church. "The church dates back to 1780 and is of immense value to us. That is why we started repairing it back in 2004," says František Černík, the association's chairperson. Unfortunately, the repair work turned to rescue work in 2005 when the southeastern part of the church tower collapsed. Luckily, the tower is now complete again and a tower clock has been installed in it. The church organ, listed as a protected cultural artifact, is also being restored. This year, the members of the association decided to mend the wall surrounding the church premises, which has also been listed as a protected cultural site. "The wall is desolate; there are stones missing, as is the entrance gate, and one of the gateposts has tumbled down. An eight-meter section of the southern part of the wall has also collapsed completely," says Černík.

The wall should be repaired by June. By that time, the church's surroundings will have been changed into a pleasant place for relaxation, with pathways and benches, surrounded by manicured lawns. The T­Mobile Fund contributed CZK 99,000 for the repair work. The association will use this money to contract expert builders, rent the necessary machinery and buy the required materials. Then it will be up to the fifteen members of the association plus the majority of Vidhostice's residents to perform some additional volunteer work and complete the work on the wall and the surrounding area.

The T-Mobile Fund will also contribute CZK 100,000 this year to Pátek, a village situated on the Ohře River, not far from Louny. The money will be used for the restoration of the tower clock at the local castle, the most significant historical site in the area. The repair and restoration of the castle's clock was initiated by the Local Council of Peruc, in whose administrative area Pátek is situated. "The clock stopped more than 55 years ago. Since then, nobody was interested in it," says Milena Hubičková, the  long-time guide and custodian at the castle's picture gallery.

The clock was taken down from the castle tower in mid-February and then transported to a restorers' workshop. "The restorers judged it to be a truly unique historical artifact and believe they will find the year of origin engraved on it after the clock is completely cleaned. We now know that the clock dates back to the beginning of the eighteenth century," says Hubičková.

The project's budget totals CZK 322,000 and the work is extremely technically demanding. The clock's two weights are made of very heavy basalt stones suspended on steel cables; these cables will be replaced with hemp ropes. The clock has three faces dating from 1936 and it also used to be equipped with chimes made of bell metal which sadly were stolen some time ago. New clock hands will also have to be fabricated, as the originals were also lost long ago. Eventually, the castle tower in which the clock will be reinstalled at the end of June will also be restored.

This is the third year that various projects have received financial contributions from the T-Mobile Fund. Funding set aside for the Louny region is managed by the Community Foundation of Euroregion Labe, which selected projects from among 119 applications from this region, distributing the total amount of CZK 1.7 million among 32 organizations.

More information is available from:
František Černík, e-mail: cernik@bri.cz, tel.: 723 791 604
Milena Hubičková, tel.: 720 467 094
Šárka Křepčíková, Deputy Mayor of Peruc, e-mail. krepcikova@peruc.cz ; tel.: 607 764 582

T-Mobile Czech Republic, a member of the international telecommunications group Deutsche Telekom, has almost 6.2 million customers, the number-one operator in the Czech market. T-Mobile is an integrated operator: in addition to telecommunications services, it offers comprehensive ICT solutions not only for companies, but also for other organizations and individuals. It provides outstanding services in the high-speed network, which was proved repeatedly by benchmark testing performed by umlaut (former P3) with Best-in-Test seal.

T-Mobile Czech Republic places emphasis on taking a responsible approach to the environment and society. It adheres to fair business practices, helps beneficial applications and services to see the light of day, supports non-profit organizations, small businesses and individuals, and lends a helping hand whenever crisis situations arise. The company’s employees serve as volunteers in many places across the entire Czech Republic.

More information about the company is available at www.t-mobile.cz, www.t-press.cz (the portal for journalists) and www.t-mobile.cz/pomahame (information on the company’s CSR activities).

Contact details of the press unit: press@t-press.cz.