Veveří Castle will kick off the postponed season with new roofs

Brno - Veveří Castle near the Brno dam is entering this year's season, which was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, with new roofs on all buildings. Their restoration cost 17.5 million crowns. More significant changes on the tour routes are planned for next season. This was stated by the curator Lenka Florková to ČTK.

"The entire castle now has new roofs. So far in May, we are only open on weekends, and we have only been able to open the outdoor spaces; we will open the interiors for the first time on the last weekend of May," Florková said.

The condition of the roof coverings and the sarking was poor; in some places, the beams were infested with wood-destroying fungus. What was possible to preserve from the original roofs has been consolidated by the workers. The repairs began at the end of 2018 and finished at the beginning of this year.

During the forced closure of the castle due to the coronavirus pandemic, a thorough cleaning of the rooms on the tour route was done at Veveří, and there was also time for work in the exteriors. "It seems that the lawns, which no one walked on, have taken nicely," Florková noted.

Next week, the castle administration will place some new pieces of furniture on the tour route, but bigger changes are planned for next year. "Next year will be the year of Enlightenment nobility, and we will be adjusting the interiors of the basic tour circuit within it," added the curator.

Among the construction works, the repair of the crown of the wall above the tavern in the courtyard will begin soon. Future investments are also planned - a backbone electrical distribution system needs to be established, and the surface of the middle castle needs to be renovated.

State Castle Veveří is referred to by experts as the Moravian Karlštejn. Originally a late Romanesque and early Gothic castle, it has undergone many reconstructions over the centuries. The interventions from the 20th century, when it was supposed to be renovated into a conference center, severely damaged it, and from 1989 to 1999, it basically just deteriorated.

In 1999, it came under the management of the National Heritage Institute, which is gradually restoring it. One of the largest and oldest castle complexes in the Czech Republic reopened to the public in 2002, and last year it was visited by over 80,000 people.