Kids burn down Slovak castle

[LordKOTL]

http://news.yahoo.co...-163446835.html

BRATISLAVA (Reuters) - Two Slovak children were suspected of burning down a large gothic castle in eastern Slovakia when their experimentation with smoking went wrong, police said on Sunday.

Police were investigating two boys on suspicion that they set grass at the foot of the Krasna Horka castle on fire on Saturday when they tried to light up cigarettes, said Jana Mesarova, police spokeswoman for the eastern Slovak region of Kosice. Children under the age of 15 cannot be prosecuted in Slovakia.

"A unit sent to the site found that two local boys aged 11 and 12 were trying to light up a cigarette and because of careless use of safety matches, they set grass at the castle hill on fire," Mesarova said.

The castle subsequently caught fire and emergency services deployed 84 fire-fighters to the scene.

The Slovak National Museum wrote on its Facebook page that damage to the castle was extensive but about 90 percent of historical collections were saved, including contemporary photographs of furnished castle premises from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, oil paintings and various ornaments.

"The castle's roof burned down completely, as well as the new exhibition in the gothic palace and the bell tower. Three bells melted," the museum said.

The castle, near the UNESCO-protected Domica Cave, dates back to the early 14th century.

(Reporting by Martin Santa and Jan Lopatka; Editing by Karolina Tagaris)

Been to the castle--it totally sucks conscerning some of the cool stuff there, but accordinfg to Slovak radio, it was mostly the roof that burned, not the walls themselves. Even though they probably can't be prosecuted, they might be sent to a juvenile facility, and if nothing else get a good ass-whooping, since parents there don't try to be a friend of their kids.

 

[the canadian dream]

So it just takes a pack of matches to bring down a castle? What was the point of catapults?

 

[bri]

Wasn't it made of stone?

 

[LordKOTL]

According to Slovak Radio last night, it was the roof that burned...the walls were pretty much fine.

 

[Bringmepie]

Ivan the Bearable says, "Only you can prevent castle fires."



Damn shame, stupid kids.

 

[LordKOTL]

Pretty much. I'm curious as to what was *not* able to be saved...



Oh, and depending on avaliablility, I'll try to get pics late this summer when I'm out that way.