Lány Castle park to reopen to the public from Easter

The park surrounding the Lány Castle presidential manor west of Prague will reopen to the public as of April 2, the Presidential Office has announced.

The park surrounding Lány Castle will be open to the public on weekends, holidays, and on Wednesdays and Thursdays. The Castle itself will remain closed to visitors.

The park has been closed since October 11 along with government lockdown measures to restrict the spread of COVID-19. The Prague Castle complex in the Czech capital, one of the country's largest tourist attractions, has also been closed during this time. 

While the Lány park will reopen to visitors in time for the Easter holiday weekend, tight measures including a restriction on the free movement of people will likely still be in force in early April.

"The Lány park will be opened to the public because its area of 100 hectares enables problem-free visits to it," Prague Castle Management spokesman Jan Pastor told CTK.

The Prague Castle complex, closed since spring 2020, will reopen as soon as the epidemiological situation allows it and after the government establishes conditions for castles and chateaux reopening, the Presidential Office said.

Lány Castle has become the traditional summer residence of the President of the Czech Republic since Václav Havel regularly visited it after assuming office following the Velvet Revolution.

Current President Miloš Zeman has spent much of the past year in Lány during the coronavirus crisis in the Czech Republic.