No one applied for the auction of the Veleslavín castle, the property office will offer it to Prague

Prague - The Office for Representation of the State in Property Matters (ÚZSVM) cancelled the electronic auction of the Prague castle Veleslavín, as none of the interested parties submitted a bidding deposit. This follows today's information from the auction website. The office stated in a press release that it will now offer the castle to Prague and the municipal district of Prague 6 at the starting price from the auction of 580 million korunas. According to Adam Zábranský (Pirates), the councilor for property, the Prague City Hall wants to negotiate with the office, but still considers the price excessive. He is willing to pay a maximum of one-third. The price is also considered too high by the mayor of Prague 6, Jakub Stárek (ODS). The municipality, according to him, is looking for partners with whom it could enter the auction.

The office had previously stated that it would allow Prague and the municipal district of Prague 6 to match the highest bid from the auction if they expressed interest in purchasing the castle. Representatives of the Prague City Hall did not want to predict whether they would take advantage of this opportunity at that time. Zábranský then stated that he considered the starting price to be exaggerated.

"The position of Prague, that the price of 580 million for the heritage-protected complex is exaggerated, has also been confirmed by the private sector through its disinterest. We do not oppose further negotiations with the state; the failure of the auction could shift future negotiations to a more constructive level," Zábranský said on the social network X in response to the auction's cancellation.

Zábranský further told ČTK that the price set by ÚZSVM corresponds to commercial land for a development project, which, however, serves a completely different purpose than that for which the city would utilize the complex. In the past, proposals were made that it could serve educational or social purposes. Considering this and the necessary investments amounting to several hundred million, the councilor said that the city is only willing to pay a maximum of one-third of what the state office demands.

The price is also too high according to Stárek for the municipal district, and he will wait until the price drops. "That amount does not correspond to the actual value of the complex and what could be realized there. The municipal district continues to look for the functions it would like in the complex and is negotiating with potential partners with whom it could connect for possible cooperation," Stárek told ČTK and Czech Radio today. According to Stárek, Prague 6 could connect with partners from private schools or the arts sector.

"The purchase is not the biggest problem; the biggest problem is the subsequent reconstruction, which will cost over a billion, and the operation of the own buildings. So if we gain private partners who see sense in repairing and operating it while preserving cultural and local value (…), we are capable of going for it," Stárek said. He admitted that the municipal district is also considering the possibility of pooling finances with the capital city.

"The goal of ÚZSVM is to find a definitive owner for this unique and state-unneeded complex with a baroque castle and expansive park, who would find meaningful use for it," stated the state office today.

In the past, the property office proposed including the Veleslavín castle in a exchange of real estate between Prague and the state, which ultimately fell through. The request from Prague for a free transfer was rejected by ÚZSVM. The municipal district of Prague 6 has recently agreed on a one-year loan with the property office and made part of the complex accessible to the public in June.

This is not the first auction in which the property office has failed to auction a heritage-protected property. Recently, the state has had problems selling the Štiřín castle near Prague, for which it announced a third round of auction. Initially, the property office offered the castle for 3.3 billion korunas, in the second round the price was reduced to 2.5 billion, and in the third by another 800 million to 1.7 billion korunas. In the past, ÚZSVM was also unsuccessful in auctioning the Prague Invalidovna, which was then taken over by the National Heritage Institute. The Prague Broadway Palace has been unsuccessfully attempted to sell by the office a total of seven times so far.

The Veleslavín castle with its historical park covers three hectares and dates back to around 1725. It was built according to the plans of Kilián Ignác Dientzenhofer for Empress Amalie of Brunswick. In the first half of the 20th century, it served as a neurological sanatorium founded by Leo Kosák and one of the discoverers of Alzheimer’s disease, Oskar Fischer. People such as Charlotta Garrigue Masaryková and Milena Jesenská were treated there.

After the communist coup, the complex was nationalized. After the revolution, various institutions rented the property. It is now under ÚZSVM, which acquired the complex from the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs in 2015. The last reconstruction of the complex took place in 1986.