The castle previously served as a hotel with a restaurant, wellness center and golf course. Štiřín was originally managed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but it announced that it did not need the site, and transferred it to the property office last June. At the time of the transfer, according to the office, the area was already closed. This year, the office announced that no other state institution had shown interest in the castle, and therefore it would start selling it to private buyers.
“The legally preferred way of dealing with unnecessary state property is to sell it through a transparent tender process. In the case of Štiřín Castle, the ÚZSVM found no reason to deviate from this procedure, also due to the high costs of taxpayers for the management of an empty property that is not needed by the state.” the office said today. The conditions of the new auction round will be published on the website www.nabidkamajetku.cz.
According to the ÚZSVM, the costs of managing the area are high. The director of the office, Kateřina Arajmu, told deputies from the parliamentary control committee in March this year that the empty area costs 600,000 kroner a month, the largest amount being the maintenance of the golf course.
The Control Committee protested against the sale and suggested that the administration of Štiřín be transferred to the House of Representatives, for example. The municipality of Kamenice, which proposed a joint project with the state, also opposed the auction. According to her, a surgery and a kindergarten could be located in part of the castle, and the rest could continue to be used by the state. The mayor of Kamenice, Pavel Čermák (deceased), said at the beginning of September that he does not expect to sell the castle in the first round of the auction. According to him, in the event of an unsuccessful auction, the room for negotiations with the state on the use of the property could be reopened.
Štiřín Castle was built in the middle of the 18th century. It got its present form around 1900 after modifications according to the project of the architect Jiří Stibral. Between 1985 and 1993, modifications were made to the castle so that it could be used as a hotel. In 1945, the state became the owner of the castle. In the past, Štiřín was used by scouts, who later unsuccessfully sued for the castle. However, the court decided in 2005 that the current scout organization Junák has no right to the castle.
