<translation>Lednice Castle will have its roofs repaired this year</translation>

Lednice (Břeclavsko) - The castle in Lednice in the Břeclav region is supposed to have its roofs repaired this year. Next year, the long-delayed renovation of the facades could begin. Petr Kroupa, the director of the Brno Monument Institute, said this today. In the past, the tender for the facade renovation had to be canceled due to the high price that the renovation was expected to entail.
    The castle in Lednice has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997. So far, only half of the roofs have been repaired. The remaining roofs have damaged tiles, some beams from the roof structure have been damaged by dry rot, and part of the roof is even covered only temporarily.
    "We have already been promised 14 million crowns for the completion of the roofs. We would like the work on the facade repairs to smoothly follow next year," emphasized the director.
    The renovation of the facades of Lednice Castle will be one of the most expensive projects related to the restoration of monuments in the Czech Republic. In the past few years, a company was selected in a tender that was supposed to carry out the work by the end of 2008 for a total of 180 million crowns.
    After personnel changes in the Monument Institute, which occurred during the time when Vítězslav Jandák (ČSSD) was the Minister of Culture, the tender was canceled. The costs for the repairs were reportedly disproportionately high.
    Lednice Castle is one of the historical architectural gems of Central Europe. The massive structure is located in a landscape designed in the style of an English park. Other monuments are adjacent to the castle. Approximately half a million tourists visit the castle and its immediate surroundings each year.