The renovation of the Imperial Baths is likely to be postponed, as the region did not receive subsidies

Karlovy Vary - The repair of the Imperial Baths in Karlovy Vary is apparently being postponed indefinitely. The Karlovy Vary Region was unsuccessful in its request for a grant from the Integrated Program of the Ministry of Culture. This was a condition for applying for funding from the Regional Operational Program Northwest. If the ministry does not receive any additional money from the redistribution of grants, the 800 million koruna repair will not take place for now, said the governor of the Karlovy Vary Region, Josef Novotný (CSSD), to ČTK today.
    "I received preliminary information that our application finished first below the line. We simply won't get the grant," stated Novotný. According to him, there is still some chance in the coming months, but if the grant is definitively rejected, the region will have no choice but to withdraw from the plan. "It was four years of demanding work," the governor noted.
    The region wanted to obtain about 300 million koruna from the Ministry of Culture. Another approximately 150 was to come from the now meticulously scrutinized Regional Operational Program Northwest, 100 million was promised by the city, and the rest would be covered by the region.
    The city transferred the building of the Imperial Baths to the region with the condition that they would repair it together. According to Deputy Mayor Jiří Klsák (KOA), today's news is indeed unpleasant, but there is still a certain hope that the money can be obtained from the ministry after all.
    "If it came to the point that the Imperial Baths would return to the city, we would probably pursue gradual repairs, as there are some funds available and the city needs the building, for example, for the symphony orchestra," Klsák told ČTK. He added that under the current leadership, there is certainly no risk that the national cultural monument, the Imperial Baths, would be put up for sale.
    The Imperial Baths were built in 1895 according to designs by renowned architects Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer. They are now in a devastated state. The region wanted to establish an information center, a social hall, and other facilities for tourism and culture within them.
    "If there are no grants, the regional council will have to decide what to do next, and I think that will be the next one. It is also possible that we will return the building back to the city because there was a condition that if we do not repair the Imperial Baths, the building will return to the city," Novotný stated.
    The reconstruction project of the Imperial Baths is among those that former official of the Regional Council Program Northwest Leo Steiner (KDU-ČSL) claims had a manipulated euro exchange rate. He asserts that the winner of the contract is already known. These speculations could also have been, according to some sources, the reason why the Karlovy Vary Region was unsuccessful with the Ministry of Culture.