Official statement
On the rejection of the Bošany Castle project
Important announcement
December 2025
With sincere regret we announce that our project “Bošany Castle – a gateway to the culture and tourism of the Upper Nitra region” was not supported under the grant programme of the Ministry of Tourism and Sport of the Slovak Republic.
About the civic association
Our civic association was founded in 2007. Its Latin name means “rebirth” or “a return to the original state”. For the nineteenth year now, we have been continuously devoted to restoring a national cultural monument – the Renaissance Castle in Bošany.
With sincere regret we received the decision not to support our project, despite its very favourable expert evaluation by the Ministry's expert assessors. We respect the decision with great disappointment, although it pains us all the more that the project's professional merit was assessed very positively.
“At the same time, we wish to declare that we will continue our work. The restoration of the castle is for us a long-term and by now also moral commitment to ourselves, and by no means a source of income. This moral aspect of ours — to complete the work fully, not only from the outside but also from within — transcends individual grant calls or any administrative decisions.”
We must honestly state that we first have to overcome the bitterness of this decision — which, after 19 years of utmost effort and of standing in for the state in many matters, we truly did not expect — because the sense of injustice has not yet faded.
A systemic problem in heritage support
We wish to point out a longer-term systemic problem. For roughly two decades now, privately owned immovable cultural monuments — those not owned by the state, churches, regional authorities, towns or municipalities — have not been supported, despite the growing public interest in visiting such sites and thus their clear potential and contribution to culture and tourism.
Projects from the Ministry of Culture through the “Let's Restore Our House” programme are, in a word, very feeble and heavily fragmented, the result of which is more “patching holes” than preparing or presenting the beauty and grandeur of the historical treasures we have in Slovakia.
We consider it necessary to emphasise that in Slovakia, too, there are initiatives and individuals who — often solely from their own resources — strive to save monuments, restore their historical value and make them accessible to the public in the form of museums, galleries or cultural and educational activities, just as our civic association endeavours to do.
We continue from our own resources
Despite this decision, we continue our work. The restoration of the castle is financed exclusively from private resources and from the support of people who care about preserving our cultural heritage.
“The intention of this statement is not to criticise again or to further question the decisions that have been made. Our aim is rather, quietly, with respect and humility, to point to the degree of responsibility for the future. It is precisely your decisions that have the power not only to allocate funds, but also to co-determine whether specific works of long-term public significance will get a chance to continue, or will remain dependent solely on the personal sacrifices of individuals.”
The official rejection notice
Renaissance Castle Bošany • Founded 2007 • 19 years of restoring Bošany Castle