The government declared the Bertramka villa a national cultural monument

Prague - The government has declared the Bertramka estate in Prague a national cultural monument (NCM), announced culture minister Antonín Staněk (ČSSD) today on Twitter. According to him, the new status will help with funding for the repairs of the building. The classicist villa from the 18th century, associated with the stay of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, belongs to the Mozart community, but has been closed for two years.

The government has declared the Bertramka estate in Prague a national cultural monument. A beautiful gift for W. A. Mozart's 263rd birthday, wrote the culture minister on Twitter. Mozart was born on January 27, 1756.

"A national cultural monument, if it seeks grant money from the Ministry of Culture, is in a way also favored point-wise. It has a better chance of receiving that money, but I believe the main reason was also that I wanted to bring the individual groups to the negotiating table, especially the owners, which is the Mozart community, Prague, and the Ministry of Culture, so we could create a common approach to save Bertramka," the minister said before the government meeting. "The Mozart community is trying with its capacities, but Bertramka needs to concentrate these funds more, so this could be a way to repair Bertramka faster and more efficiently," the minister added.

Bertramka opened to the public in 2010 under the management of the Mozart community, but has been closed since 2016 due to reconstruction. Last fall, the outdoor staircase was repaired, but the facade is already peeling again. Although exhibitions are installed in the cold building, there is also equipment left by a tenant who unsuccessfully operated a restaurant there and made some inappropriate construction interventions according to the community. The Mozart community also complains about the low visitor turnout and little interest from tourists.

The villa has been declared a cultural monument for decades. This month, Staněk stated that after his appointment, Prague 5 had urged him to process the impetus for declaring Bertramka an NCM, which was submitted in early 2017. If the monument has the highest possible state protection status, its owner can access more support from public funds, but the state can also more press the owner to properly care for the monument. In case of poor care, it can also impose a higher fine. Prague previously considered that one of its established institutions could take care of Bertramka.

According to the culture minister, the declaration as NCM has the advantage "in case of any problems," as the status of a national cultural monument allows the state a right of pre-emption.

The NCM is declared by the government on the proposal of the Ministry of Culture. Usually, a bundle of about twenty monuments is declared. This year, the government plans to do so at the end of the year, but Bertramka reached the government meeting earlier.

The entire area including the garden and farm buildings should become a NCM, near which today homeless people have established residences. If the condition of Bertramka improves, according to earlier statements by the culture minister, the National Museum could lend some artifacts related to Mozart or the former owners of the villa, the Dušek couple.