The Historical City of the Year 2016 is Jičín

Prague - The historic town of the year 2016 is Jičín, known as the town of fairy tales and the town of Albrecht von Wallenstein. The winner of this year's award for exemplary care of monuments and the use of subsidies for their repair was traditionally announced today at Prague Castle. For the last two years, Jičín has been in the closest selection of three nominated towns. The town receives a reward of one million crowns for further care of the monuments.

"We are incredibly happy in Jičín; five years ago we wouldn't have even hoped for a placement, after two nominations we came here with a slight desire to win, and in the end, we managed to fulfill that," said Deputy Mayor Petr Hamáček to ČTK. According to him, the town dedicates a lot of time and energy to the heritage reserve. Besides the Wallenstein Lodge, they are also focusing on the Wallenstein Castle, for which they could use the money won in the competition, Hamáček stated.

In the 23rd year of the competition, there were 37 participants, from which the jury selected 14 regional finalists. Jičín, which has 74 cultural monuments within its urban heritage reserve, won in the Hradec Králové Region. The restoration of the Wallenstein Lodge continues, and the restoration of the linden alley and Libosad has been completed. Last year, five monuments were repaired in the town thanks to grants from the Ministry of Culture, amounting to nearly 3.5 million crowns.

To this sum from the state, the town contributed 75,000 crowns within the program for the owners of the repaired objects. The owners themselves - including the town if it is the owner - contributed a total of 5.5 million crowns. The town estimates that it has invested an additional 210 million crowns into its heritage reserve and zone, besides the contributions from the ministry's program.

This year, the town hall has embarked on a larger renovation of the Wallenstein Castle for 14.3 million crowns excluding VAT. The adjustments will concern the current information center on the ground floor and spaces on the first floor, where a tax office used to be located. This is the first significant investment in the building in the last 40 years. The work is expected to last until spring 2018. The town hall anticipates that in the coming years, other parts of the castle will also be gradually repaired, with costs estimated in the tens of millions of crowns. Previous investments in the castle were primarily for emergency repairs, including at the boiler room or heating system.

The town also continues with gradual repairs of the baroque monument Wallenstein Lodge at the end of the famous linden alley from Jičín to Valdice. Repairs to the staircase and plasterwork are expected to cost about seven million crowns. Over the last three years, the town has invested about 25 million crowns into the lodge. Last year, for example, builders completed connecting the lodge to the sewer system for more than two million crowns and started the construction of social facilities with a background in the so-called honor courtyard for 3.7 million crowns, which has been significantly lacking during cultural and other events held at the lodge.

The East Bohemian town of Jičín, with 17,000 inhabitants, is called the gateway to the Bohemian Paradise, and its young visitors may still associate it with the fairy tale character shoemaker Rumcajs, whose defiance against the noble lord led him to the path of a robber.