The roof of Lešná Castle in the zoo complex needs repair

photo: http://www.zoo-lesna-zlin.cz/

Zlín - The roof of the Lešná castle in the Zlín zoological garden area needs repair. The costs are estimated at 60 million crowns, garden spokesperson Romana Bujáčková said today to ČTK. Although the zoo is very self-sufficient - nearly 90 percent of its budget of 105 million crowns comes from its own revenues - it does not have enough money to repair the roof.

According to the garden management, the region and the Ministry of Culture do not contribute to the historical site, and the zoo and its founder, the city of Zlín, must bear the costs of maintenance, repairs, and investments. "Although the value of the castle is enormous, due to laws determining the value of historical properties, it is impossible to account for depreciation of such assets for their repairs. In our case, the accounting value of the castle has been set at 4,260,000 crowns, which means depreciation of just 9,000 crowns per month. Just the operational maintenance of the castle is far more expensive," stated garden director Roman Horský.

The roofing, the majority of the roof cladding, and the roof gutter gargoyles have not been fundamentally repaired for over one hundred years. "It is not only about the castle roof. There is still a debt concerning the unrenovated rooms previously used for the natural history exhibition of the Gottwaldov District Museum, as well as unfinished renovations of the basement and cellar areas of the castle. The water exhibits with alligators were to be removed, as the increased humidity could be a source of wood rot in the castle interiors," the spokesperson said.

The water exhibits were to be eliminated in connection with a planned new project in the zoo named "River of Grass". The start was planned for this year, but the project has been suspended. However, the garden will begin to build new facilities for African elephants; the director recently announced that the first artificial insemination of an elephant in the Czech Republic was successful, and a calf could be born next year.

"It is clear that the financial capabilities of the zoo and our founder, the city of Zlín, will not be sufficient for the necessary development of the area and for maintaining the historical buildings in the future. Perhaps the time has come to look for other ways of financing. The first indication of a possible solution is the contribution from the Zlín region for the construction of a new breeding facility for elephants amounting to 10 million crowns," Horský said.

The construction of the castle was completed in 1893. Since then, the facade has only been repaired twice, in 1955 and subsequently under the former zoo director Ivo Klika. However, he also had limited funds for the castle's restoration, he had, for example, the ventilation system of the castle's foundation and basement walls restored, the ventilation channels flooded with water cleaned, and the collapsed channels under the castle pond repaired. Experts also treated the wooden paneling of the entrance hall and library. The castle chapel was restored, and the heating system and electrical wiring were renewed.

Last year, the zoo was visited by a record of more than 668,000 people. For the sixth year in a row, the Zlín garden is the second most visited zoo in the Czech Republic after Prague. Last year, a record 1,448,353 people visited the Prague zoo.