The post office has reduced the price of the former monastery in Smíchov to 353 million

Prague – Czech Post has once again offered for sale the former Benedictine monastery in Prague's Smíchov. The starting price has been reduced from the original offer by 67 million to 353.35 million CZK, which corresponds to the appraisal. Matyáš Vitík, spokesman for the postal service, said this today.

The area of the former St. Gabriel's Monastery will be offered by the postal service through an electronic auction, which will take place on September 19. Detailed information, including technical specifications, can be found on the Czech Post website.

Three years ago, the postal service canceled the first electronic auction, which had a starting price of 420 million CZK, when only one company submitted a binding offer, but with formal errors. The postal service then unsuccessfully offered the area two more times, most recently for 370 million. The area requires renovation, and its use is limited due to heritage protection. Moreover, part of it, the Church of St. Gabriel, will continue to be used for worship services.

The state, represented by the Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs, purchased the monastery in 1919 for 3.5 million CZK from its then owners, Karel and Alois Löweinstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg, to subsequently establish a check postal office there, which operated until 1931. The vacated spaces were then allocated to the Postal Museum. After World War II, the main user of the building gradually became the Postal Money Order Central Office, later renamed VAKUS. VAKUS left the former monastery building only in 1998. In the same year, the Prague Postal Directorate moved into the building, which left shortly after 2010. Only part of the Postal Museum remained in the building, which left at the end of 2016.

Czech Post has been able to sell surplus property based on a government decision only since 2014.