The Hradec Králové Region will repeat the auction of the castle in Skřivany in November

Hradec Králové - The Hradec Králové Region will repeat the auction of the monumentally protected neo-Gothic castle in Skřivany in Hradec Králové for the third time, which belongs to it. The object has no use. The proposal for the repeated voluntary public auction with a starting price of 29 million crowns was approved today by the regional councilors. The region plans to repeat the auction of the monument on November 22, significantly lowering the price. The monument is for sale along with the associated land.

The first auction took place on August 7 with a starting price of 38.4 million crowns, but no interested parties attended. The second auction with a starting price of 34 million crowns was held on October 4, and again, none of the interested parties participated.

"The object has been intended for sale for some time, it is not in use, and we take care of it so that it does not degrade. We chose the path of a public auction to make it as transparent as possible, however, no one participated in the previous two. Thus, the third auction will take place. We hope to successfully sell the relevant property," said Václav Řehoř (ODS), the regional councilor for transport and property, today.

The operation of the building is managed by the regional Social Services Home in Skřivany, which previously used the space for its clients. The castle served for years as a Social Care Institute, which was closed in 2017. Last spring, dozens of refugees from Ukraine found accommodation in the empty castle in Skřivany, mostly women with children. The region experienced the highest influx of war refugees in the first weeks after Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Gradually, the influx of refugees from Ukraine began to decline.

The Baroque castle in Skřivany was built on the site of an older Renaissance fortress and acquired its current neo-Gothic appearance in the second half of the 19th century according to the design of architect Josef Niklas. Since 1964, the building housed a Youth Social Care Institute, which was there until 2017. The castle complex is located on the edge of the village of Skřivany behind the former sugar factory in Tovární Street. The castle is surrounded by a park, which contains other buildings, and it is not accessible to the public.

Since 1958, it has been a protected cultural monument and was recorded in the Central Register of Cultural Monuments of the Czech Republic in 1964.