The National Heritage Institute will insure all its monuments

BRNO - From Monday, all historical sites, including their furnishings, will be uniformly insured under the administration of the National Heritage Institute of the Czech Republic; until now, only some were insured. The insurance should be sufficient to cover damages like those incurred last April from the fire at Pernštejn Castle in the Brno region. The institute will contract with an association of six Czech insurers. Among them are, for example, Česká pojišťovna, Kooperativa, and Pojišťovna ČSOB, Zdeněk Novák, who is tasked with managing the heritage institute, told CTK today.
According to the agreed contract, the institute will pay 3.5 million crowns annually for the insurance of monuments. In return, it will receive annual insurance coverage of up to a total of 80 million crowns. If the contract had existed a year ago, it would have fully covered all damages at Pernštejn. The fire destroyed historical items, the fourth gate of the castle, and its granary, which served as a repository. The damages are estimated at 50 million crowns.
"The contract offers very lucrative conditions. It can be said that this is literally an expression of patriotism from the insurers," Novák stated.
Novák emphasized that the insurance is unique. According to him, the National Heritage Institute has a chance to achieve an even higher level of insurance. This can be achieved by increasing the insurance to 8.5 million crowns per year. Payment of this amount would ensure insurance coverage of up to 600 million crowns.
After this insurance policy is concluded, Czech castles and chateaus under the care of the heritage institute would no longer need to fear devastating floods. After major floods, there would be no issues with the lengthy search for funds to secure basic repairs for affected properties.
The floods in 2002 brought disaster to heritage sites. The water damaged Švihov Castle, Český Krumlov, Kratochvíle Castle, and the castle in Veltrusy, where the damage amounted to 220 million crowns. The castle is among the few monuments that were individually insured.
Whether a higher insurance policy will be arranged is still unknown. According to Novák, heritage officials have requested a contribution from the Ministry of Culture to afford the policy. If the ministry provides the funds, a contract with higher insurance coverage may be signed on February 1.
The negotiated insurance contract is set to be signed on Monday in Prague. One of its significant advantages is that it also covers furnishings. Thus, the days when Czech heritage officials had to arrange insurance for every transport of valuable historical artifacts will come to an end.
The National Heritage Institute attempted to protect the properties under its care with insurance as early as 1997. "However, at that time, the insurers demanded such astronomical amounts that we could not afford it," emphasized Novák. He added that discussions about the insurance of Czech heritage sites began again last year after the fire at Pernštejn.
As deputy minister of culture, responsible for heritage sites, Novák initiated a tender in which heritage officials sought insurers willing to contract insurance for all the institute's properties. Only one interested party applied - an association formed by six insurers.
The National Heritage Institute oversees a total of 94 castles and chateaus, two open-air museums, one mine, and several churches.