Prague, May 10 (CTK) – The historical Palace Gardens on the southern slope below Prague Castle are in a poor condition, in spite of their thorough reconstruction in the 1990s, which is why the National Heritage Institute (NPU) must start their new reconstruction next year, NPU head Nada Goryczkova said yesterday.
The set of five gardens, each named after the nearby historical palaces, the Ledebourg, Small and Big Palffy, Kolovrat and Small Fuerstenberg ones, is exposed to large swings in temperature and to moisture wicking. Their construction elements need permanent intensive maintenance and a complete reconstruction every 20 years, Goryczkova said.
The NPU has managed the gardens in the past six years.
Goryczkova said the bad condition of the gardens is partly due to the technologies that were applied in the latest reconstruction and that eventually showed unsuitable.
Another reason is the disadvantageous renting of the gardens to a business firm in 2004 that failed to maintain them appropriately, Goryczkova said.
The firm paid an annual rent worth mere 250,000 crowns to the NPU though it collected entrance fees worth several million crowns from the visitors.
In the mid-2000s, Jiri Kotalik was sacked as NPU director over the scandal.
The NPU, controlled by the Culture Ministry, took over the gardens’ management in November 2010.
The planned reconstruction will consist of several phases, the first of which might start in the second half of 2017. The gardens will remain accessible to the public.
($1=23.717 crowns)
