Ani in the third round, an offer for the rent of the castle in Veleslavín did not come

Prague - Not a single offer was submitted for the third round of the search for a new tenant for the castle in Veleslavín in Prague 6. Interested parties could submit offers until today. The Office for the Representation of the State in Property Affairs (ÚZSVM) will announce another round. In response to a query from ČTK, ÚZSVM spokesman Radek Ležatka said today. The office originally wanted to auction the castle for 382 million crowns, but the Minister of Culture withdrew the necessary consent for the auction. Prague is striving to acquire the castle as its property.

"No bids came in for today's round of the selection procedure for the rental of the Veleslavín Castle area. We anticipate announcing another round with a bid submission deadline at the turn of March and April. The minimum price will be published in the announced selection procedure," Ležatka informed ČTK.

In the first round, the price for the entire area was set at 750,000 crowns per month; in the second round announced in December, it was reduced to 525,000 crowns. In the last round, the monthly rent was set at half of the original offer, specifically at 368,000 crowns. The office wants to rent the castle until a new owner is found, but no later than the end of December 2019.

A private healthcare facility operator operated in the castle until the end of last November, paying 210,000 crowns a month for the rental of the main building. Due to the end of the contract, the office wanted to auction the castle to avoid costs for security for the state.

The timing of the auction, less than two months after the municipal elections, complicated the city’s participation in the auction, and at a meeting last September, members of Prague 6 criticized the auction itself, in which a public institution has little chance of success. The Ministry of Culture initially expressed consent to auction the castle, but a few days later, Minister of Culture Antonín Staněk (ČSSD) withdrew the necessary consent and stated that the building should remain in public ownership.

The Ministry of Culture, the capital city, and Prague 6 are interested in the area. Representatives of the municipal district stated last week that they would like to relocate the basic art school from the primary school in Břevnov to the baroque castle and possibly establish another facility with a community or cultural purpose in collaboration with the capital city. The ministry would like to place one of its contributory organizations in the area.

The castle with its historic park, which covers three hectares, dates back to about 1725. It was built according to the plans of Kilián Ignác Dienzenhofer for Empress Amálie of Brunswick. It was last reconstructed in 1986. The ÚZSVM took over the baroque castle in 2015 from the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.