After the traditional winter holidays, a new tourist season has begun in the Czech Republic. Castles, chateaux and other cultural monuments reopened to visitors on April 1. Almost thirty thousand people came to see the state monuments administered by the National Heritage Institute. On the first weekend, that is, on Saturday and Sunday, April 1 and 2, there were twice as many visitors as last year. The National Institute announced this on its website.
“During the two days off, a total of 27,387 visitors came to castles, chateaux and other monuments. This is more than twice as much as in the first weekend of last year’s season, when 12,183 people visited the monuments,” said Nadia Gorychkova, director of the National Institute of Natural History.
According to iDnes.cz , The National Institute of National Heritage opens and operates for visitors about 100 state castles, chateaux and other monuments in the Czech Republic. For the whole of 2022, 3.8 million visitors visited the monuments managed by the Institute of National Heritage. Among the most famous and most visited are traditionally Karlstein Castle, Gluboka Castle and Czech Krumlov, and in Moravia, for example, Telc Castle or Lednice.
Before the start of this season, the Institute of National Heritage announced that it does not plan to increase the prices of tickets to monuments. On the contrary, he will try to reduce the cost of entrance tickets in the categories for children and youth aged 6 to 17 years, the Czech News Agency reports. The last time the entrance fee to castles and chateaux for excursions was increased in 2022, on average by about 30 CZK per ticket.
The Institute of National Heritage celebrates 20 years of its activity this year. It is one of the most important cultural institutions in the country. It was established in 2003 through the merger of the State Institute for the Protection of Monuments and the State institutes of Monuments operating in the regions. The INH is a professional organization for the care of monuments, has the status of a research organization, contributes to the protection and restoration of monuments, and not only those that it manages itself. This year, many monuments are undergoing reconstruction or professional restoration, and in some monuments, the Institute of National Heritage has prepared completely new sightseeing tours for visitors in the year of its anniversary. Many castles and chateaux also held their very popular Easter fairs for the public over the holiday weekend.
See also: Easter in the Czech Republic
