Kolín wants to repair the dilapidated castle with money from Norwegian funds

Kolín - The dilapidated Kolín castle could be repaired with money from the so-called Norwegian funds. The town hall has completed a project and submitted it for consideration. Whether it will succeed is a question, said Mayor Vít Rakušan (Change for Kolín) to ČTK today.
According to Rakušan, a hotel and library could be created inside. "Which Kolín deserves, because the current spaces are not adequate, books are slowly no longer fitting into the basement," noted the mayor.
Construction of a business incubator is set to begin in the castle courtyard this year. However, it would also be necessary to repair the entire complex, which, according to Rakušan, has been written about as a ruin for a hundred years. The possibility that the city would receive a direct grant from the Ministry of Culture is extremely unlikely. "The problem here is that the Kolín castle does not look like a monument at first glance. We can always manage to secure some money for the Church of St. Bartholomew after greater or lesser struggles, but not for the Kolín castle," pointed out the mayor.
Therefore, Norwegian funds could be a solution, which, according to Rakušan, often release resources for the reconstruction of buildings that do not initially look particularly grand. "The project is completed and submitted for consideration. However, when I talk to the mayors of any larger cities, almost everyone relies on Norwegian funds, so there will be tremendous competition," he warned. For example, nearby Kutná Hora wants to obtain funds from the same sources for the renovation of the Dačický House.
Securing funds for a complete reconstruction of the castle is currently unrealistic, and work should proceed in phases. "There are options on the table that correspond to the views of art historians, conservationists, and architects, but if I were to say where the total investment for the castle's repair and all renovations would roughly be, we would be at around a billion crowns," Rakušan noted.
The material prepared by city architect Jiří Košťál reminds us that the history of the Kolín castle is very long and diverse. Its establishment in 1261 alone predetermined the formation of the future city's core. The complex survived several burnings, has undergone subsequent restoration and reconstruction. Just as the owners of the estate changed, so did the appearance of the castle. For example, knight František Horský built a brewery in it in the second half of the 19th century. Another significant reconstruction occurred after a fire in 1911. Modifications of the complex continued until 1988 when brewery operations ceased. In the past, the town hall had one wing of the complex repaired and moved part of the city office into it.