The Property Office announced an auction for the Veleslavín Castle in Prague in November

Prague - The Office for Representing the State in Property Matters (ÚZSVM) will offer the Prague castle Veleslavín for sale. The electronic auction will take place from November 27 to 28, with a starting price of 580 million crowns. The office will also allow Prague and the municipal district of Prague 6 to match the highest bid from the auction if they express interest in purchasing the castle. ÚZSVM stated this in a press release today. Prague councilor Adam Zábranský (Pirates) said in response to ČTK that he considers the state's approach unfortunate and reiterated the city's interest in taking over the castle and taking care of it. Whether the city will match the winner's price is, according to him, premature to say.

Interested parties can register for the electronic auction by paying a deposit of 15 million crowns by November 26. The minimum bid in the auction itself will be 50,000 crowns. The property office will allow four tours of the offered premises before the auction begins, scheduled for September 26, October 10 and 24, and November 7.

In the past, the property office proposed including the Veleslavín castle in a property exchange between Prague and the state, which ultimately fell through. ÚZSVM rejected Prague's request for a free transfer. The municipal district of Prague 6 recently agreed on an annual loan with the property office.

"I consider it very sad that the state is allowing the Veleslavín castle grounds to deteriorate. On behalf of Prague, we have long been prepared to take over the premises and gradually start repairs in cooperation with Prague 6, but unfortunately, the state wants more than half a billion or properties of equivalent value, which we consider outrageous and unacceptable," Zábranský stated today. According to him, it is not a building plot but a heritage-protected area that will be very expensive to bring to a usable state. "We have the possibility from ÚZSVM to match the highest bid, but at this moment it is impossible to anticipate whether we will use it as the main city," he added.

The capital city and the municipal district submitted a request for the possibility of matching the highest bid from the auction. "ÚZSVM complied with both requests. Therefore, in the event of a successful selection process, ÚZSVM will allow the capital city of Prague and the Municipal District of Prague 6 to match the highest offer from the selection process," the property office stated today.

The Veleslavín castle with its historic park spans three hectares and dates back to around 1725. It was built according to the plans of Kilián Ignác Dientzenhofer for Empress Amálie of Brunswick. In the first half of the 20th century, it served as a neurological sanatorium established by Leo Kosák and one of the discoverers of Alzheimer’s disease, Oskar Fischer. Notable patients included Charlotta Garrigue Masaryková and Milena Jesenská.

After the communist coup, the premises were nationalized. After the revolution, various institutions rented the building. It is now under ÚZSVM, which acquired the premises from the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs in 2015. The premises were last renovated in 1986.