Czech Republic closes heritage sites, postpones season over coronavirus

The Czech National Heritage Institute (NPU) closed all state-run castles, chateaux and other heritage sites with all-year operation as of Tuesday and postponed the start of the main season indefinitely because of the new coronavirus outbreak, its spokeswoman Jana Hartmanova told CTK. The NPU runs about 100 heritage sites that welcomed more than 5 million visitors last year. The sites with all-year operation include popular castles and chateaux such as Karlstejn near Prague and Hluboka nad Vltavou, south Bohemia. In 2018, the NPU's proceeds from the heritage sites reached 620 million crowns (EUR 24.3m).