Czech Republic has an internal debt of 60 billion CZK on monuments according to NPÚ

Kuks Castle

Prague - Czech Republic has an internal debt of 60 billion crowns for monuments managed by the National Heritage Institute. This was stated by Minister of Culture Jiří Besser at today's Žofín Forum. This amount is needed for the restoration of monuments that have been systematically neglected over the past few decades. The ministry will attempt to acquire additional financial resources by separating the cultural account from the tourism account. This should make it more evident what significance cultural monuments have for the Czech economy, and according to Besser, it will allow for more public budget funds to be allocated to the ministry.
     "The internal debt is not an issue of recent years. It accumulated primarily before 1989,” Besser stated. Many monuments deteriorated in the past regime and suffered because they were used for different purposes. Experts indicated more than five years ago that it would be necessary to allocate five to six billion crowns annually for ten years to eliminate the emergency state of the monuments. Moreover, the debt increases year by year as the state cuts funding for monuments. The budget for the Ministry of Culture this year plans about 690 million crowns for the rescue and restoration of cultural monuments.
     The primary goal of the Ministry of Culture will be the financing of monuments under state management. "I cannot imagine that we would, as a state, compensate private monument owners for investments in their property in light of our internal debt concerning state property,” Besser noted. According to him, the new heritage law does not take into account so-called compensations for owners of cultural monuments, and the state cannot support owners beyond the existing programs managed by the Ministry of Culture.
     Among the highest priorities in restoring cultural heritage, according to Besser, are the reconstruction of Kuks Castle, repairs of the castle in Plasy, and the restoration of 16 monuments in Litomyšl, which are currently underway. On the other hand, various projects have been halted due to a lack of funding, such as the opening of a technical museum in Brno.
     In the Czech Republic, there are currently over 40,000 monuments, including 271 national cultural monuments and 12 UNESCO sites. The state manages 113 reserves and 483 heritage zones within heritage-protected areas.