Karlštejn Castle officially opened after extensive reconstruction, April 21, 2023, Karlštejn.
Prague – Over the past weekend, more than 9,000 children and young people under the age of 18 came to see one of the monuments managed by the National Monuments Institute (NPÚ). On both free days, as part of the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the NPÚ, most of the sightseeing routes were free of charge. A total of 46,000 visitors visited state castles, chateaux and other monuments during the weekend, informed ČTK the spokeswoman of the Institute of Monuments Blanka Černá.
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“A total of 46,000 visitors visited the castles, chateaux and other monuments managed by the NPÚ on April 22 and 23. A fifth of them were children. Five percent of the total number of visitors were under the age of six, and children aged 6 to 17 were 14.4 percent,” the spokeswoman said. For example, on the first weekend of April, at the start of this year's main visitor season, over 27,000 tourists came to the state monuments, twice as many as last year.
While children under the age of six normally have free entrance to state castles and chateaux, older children pay 30 percent of the basic entrance fee. This weekend everyone under the age of 18 had free entry. According to Černá, over six thousand visitors used this discount. The same event is also prepared for International Children's Day on June 1.
The most interested people over the weekend came to Lednice Castle, Veveří Castle and Karlštejn Castle, Český Krumlov Castle, Květná Zahrady in Kroměříž, Bouzov Castle, Castle Hluboká nad Vltavou, Pernštejn or Trosky castle.
At Lemberk Castle, children made up half of all weekend visitors to this monument. A third of them were at the castle in Ratibořice, Dole Michal in Ostrava, Kunětická hora, Kunštát castle, Landštejn castle, Mníšek pod Brdy castle or Trosky castle, the spokeswoman added.
Monuments in administration NPÚ will also be open during the two upcoming long weekends, including public holidays on May 1 and 8. Those interested can find the range of tours and tour times on the websites of individual monuments.
The National Institute of Monuments manages more than a hundred castles, chateaux, monasteries, gardens and other monuments in the country and is the guarantor of professional monument care in the Czech Republic. It was created in 2003 by the merger of the existing State Institute for Monument Preservation and State Monument Institutes in individual regions. It is the largest grant-making organization of the Ministry of Culture.
In last year's main season, approximately 3.4 million visitors visited monuments managed by the National Museum of Natural History, and 3.83 million for the whole year, as some monuments were open until the end of the year. However, attendance has not yet returned to the level from before the coronavirus epidemic, when it amounted to 5.3 million people in 2019.
