The entry for 14 February 1931 is two sentences long. It records that the chandelier came down during the afternoon, that the room was empty, and that the manager had it swept and the room open again by six. There is no further comment, which tells you something about the man keeping the book.
What is not recorded is why. The chandelier hung on a rigid rod through the ceiling rose, fixed to a timber in the floor above. The timber had been notched during the 1920s work for a pipe run, and the notch was on the wrong side.
The replacement went up in October of the same year on a chain instead of a rod, with the load spread across two timbers. It is the chandelier that hangs there now; it has been rewired three times, and the chain is inspected every spring by somebody who does not work here.
This is why nothing is fixed to the ceiling of that room for an event. It is in the hire conditions, it is said on the telephone, and it is said again when the room is handed over, because somebody always arrives with a bag of lighting and a plan.
The notched timber is still in place. It was sistered in 1931 and again in 1996 and is probably the most-inspected piece of wood in Karlovy Vary.