The Heritage Institute plans to repair the Palace Gardens under the Castle

Prague - The National Heritage Institute (NPÚ) plans to repair the Palace Gardens under Prague Castle at a cost of approximately 40 million crowns. The complex of gardens connecting Prague Castle and the Malá Strana was extensively reconstructed in the 1990s, with the repair of the first two completed in 1997 and the remaining three three years later. "It is common for terraced gardens on rocky slopes to require significant restoration after ten to 15 years," said Dušan Michelfeit from NPÚ to ČTK.
    The institute found a designer in a selection process who will prepare project documentation for the heritage restoration of the area for 1.75 million crowns. They must assess the condition of the gardens, and the project will outline the overall difficulty of the restoration. The original investment plan was approximately 40 million crowns, said NPÚ spokesperson Simona Juračková to ČTK. NPÚ is expected to have the first part of the project documentation by July, when the extent of the necessary restoration will also be known. In October, they plan to adjust the investment plan according to the project. The actual work will not begin until the next season.
    "We anticipate extensive repairs of plasterwork and the replacement of the outdated irrigation system. However, the essence of the gardens will not change, and we do not expect structural repairs either. The scope of work is also determined by the fact that the restoration of all the gardens occurred practically at the same time, so the entire area shows needs for repairs simultaneously," she added.
    The complex of Baroque gardens includes the Ledeburská, Malá and Velká Pálffyovská, Kolowratská, and Malá Fürstenberská gardens. Since 1992, NPÚ's predecessor, the State Institute of Heritage Care, has been conducting repairs, and since 1994 with the assistance of the Prague Heritage Fund under the patronage of Charles, Prince of Wales, and President Václav Havel. The second phase of restoration took place from 1996 to 2000.
    Initially, the gardens were managed by the heritage institute itself, but in 2004 they leased them to a private company. The leadership of the Ministry of Culture soon began to assert that the lease agreement was extremely disadvantageous for the state. The tenant was supposed to pay the state 250,000 crowns annually for the gardens, the Gallery of the Ledeburský Palace, and other non-residential spaces in a very lucrative location in Prague, and this amount did not include insurance of 113,000 crowns, which, according to the contract, was covered by the landlord. The income from entrance fees and organized events, since the tenant rented the space further, is currently estimated by NPÚ at four to eight million crowns per year.
    According to NPÚ, the tenant was supposed to carry out maintenance of the gardens at their own expense, which they did not do. The Ministry of Culture had been seeking to terminate the contract or adjust it since 2005. However, no amendment was ever signed, although both sides claimed they were pursuing it. In January 2006, NPÚ terminated the lease agreement effective January 31, 2007. However, the tenant did not vacate the Palace Gardens and continued to operate them. The dispute was dealt with by courts of all instances for several years, and NPÚ took over the gardens only in the autumn of 2010.