Commercial presentation Update: 28/03/2024 04:50
Issued by: 28/03/2024, 04:50
Prague – The main tourist season begins today at state monuments. The traditional opening date of the monuments was moved from April 1 this year due to Easter. Compared to last year, entrance fees will be more expensive at most state monuments, and visitors can expect newly opened areas and sightseeing routes. In addition to castles and chateaux managed by the state, private monuments will also open.
The state castles and chateaux are managed by the National Monuments Institute (NPÚ), which this year will increase the entrance fee for some monuments by 20 to 60 crowns. He justified this by the increased costs of managing monuments and the austerity measures of the Ministry of Culture, from which the institute received 30 million crowns less for operation this year. At a quarter of the monuments, the entrance fee will not change.
The hundred monuments managed by the NPÚ will be open in daily operation throughout the Easter holidays. A special Easter program is being prepared for some of them, for example, there will be a special circuit at Valtice Castle and an exhibition of 3,500 Easter eggs in Opočno. From April 2, the monuments will have a regular visitor regime.
New sightseeing routes and areas will be opened for visitors at the Litomyšl State Castle, which has been under reconstruction since last February. From July, the historic kitchen and castle tower will be accessible. At the Uherčice castle in Znojemsko, the restored castle interiors of the first floor of the eastern wing will be accessible from the end of April. At Velhartice Castle in Šumava, a new route will take visitors to the cellars of the so-called Huert Castle Wing.
The repaired gardens will open at the Lysice state castle in Blanensko, including a technical monument, a rare fig tree with a sliding roof. The Bellarie Summer Palace at the Český Krumlov State Castle and Chateau has also undergone a complete renovation and will be introduced to it by a new visitor route from September. The baroque pharmacy will open to the public in the Zlatá Koruna monastery.
Other new installations will be part of the project In the Footsteps of Noble Houses, which this year will focus on the Habsburgs. NPÚ wants to present how the Habsburgs lived in Bohemia and Moravia from the 18th to the 20th century, how they adapted their residences to their tastes and preferences. The main Habsburg buildings will be the Konopiště, Ploskovice and Zákupy castles. The project will also be accompanied by exhibitions and lectures.
Interest in castles and chateaux in the Czech Republic increased last year, 4.2 million people visited them, which is about half a million more year-on-year. However, the numbers still fall short of 2019, when over five million people visited state castles and chateaux. Objects open year-round also recorded increased interest. During January and February 2024, 17 percent more tourists visited them than in the same period last year.
Today, the visitor season will also start at other buildings, including private castles and chateaux. On some of them, their owners prepare accompanying Easter programs. Kost Castle with Easter decorations will open today, Pecka Castle or Stránov Castle will open on Good Friday. Loučeň Castle offers themed tours of how the princely Thurn Taxis family spent Easter.
CR monuments of the NPÚ
Tags: Today begins main tourist season monuments Czech Republic
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