Last year, fewer people visited monuments managed by the National Heritage Institute, but revenues are higher.

Prague - Last year, 5.273 million people visited state-managed monuments, compared to 5.5 million people the year before. Traditionally, the most visited were the Lednice, Český Krumlov, and Hluboká castles. This was stated today by NPÚ spokesperson Jana Hartmanová in a press release. Although fewer visitors came than the year before, NPÚ's revenues were higher, totaling 620 million crowns. Last year, NPÚ raised entrance fees at some sites, reportedly primarily to regulate attendance at excessively overloaded sites.

August was the strongest month for attendance in 2019, with 1.2 million visitors coming to see the monuments; an additional 200,000 visitors were attracted by special programs during the Castle Advent in November and December.

The Lednice castle was visited by 389,000 people last year, Český Krumlov was second with 386,000 visitors, and Hluboká, in third place, attracted 293,000 people. These three monuments frequently alternate in their rankings; two years ago, the first was Český Krumlov with 429,000 visitors, the second was Lednice with 394,000, and the third was Hluboká with 288,000 visitors.

According to its leadership, NPÚ is forced to limit the capacity of some sites. The most visited monuments are overloaded and cannot accommodate more visitors, and if that were to happen, it would mean degradation of these sites. At some monuments, entrance fees were raised by approximately ten percent last year, partly due to regulating the number of visitors. NPÚ also tries to attract attention to lesser-known monuments.

Last year, the attendance of state monuments exceeded five million for the fifth consecutive year. In addition to the trio of the most popular sites, which have been consistently at the top, Valtice and Karlštejn also enjoyed high interest, each attracting over 200,000 people. Other historic sites that surpassed the 100,000 visitor mark include Kroměříž, Konopiště, Trosky, Křivoklát, Bouzov, Sychrov, and Buchlovice.

The "Rising Star" of 2019, with an annual increase of 18,000 visitors, was Valtice Castle. 15,000 more people visited Švihov Castle, totaling 51,000 visitors. Nearly 9,000 more visitors compared to the previous year explored Hradec nad Moravicí castle, which recorded 52,000 visitors for the last year.

NPÚ also reported increased revenues from the sale of services and rentals. Total revenues for 2019 amounted to 620 million crowns. In 2018, revenues were previously reported by NPÚ to be 572 million crowns. Last year, there was also an increased interest in monuments from filmmakers - revenues from rentals related to filming increased by nearly ten million crowns year on year.

The money from the revenues will be used by heritage protectors for repairs and maintenance of the long-term underfunded sites, or to address damage in parks and gardens caused by prolonged drought and pests.

Table: The ten most visited monuments under the management of NPÚ from January to December 2019

Rank	Monument	Number of Visitors
1.	Lednice	389,000
2.	Český Krumlov	386,000
3.	Hluboká	293,000
4.	Valtice	212,460
5.	Karlštejn	212,410
6.	Kroměříž	178,000
7.	Konopiště	147,000
8.	Trosky	117,000
9.	Křivoklát	111,000
10.	Bouzov	110,000

source: NPÚ