New owner of listed baroque chateau in South Bohemia causes anger with renovation works

The new owner of a listed 18th-century baroque chateau in Chlum u Třeboně is causing concern and anger in the small town by carrying out demolition work in the building without a permit and refusing to communicate with the relevant authorities, news site Deník N reports.

Daniel Bakaev, an entrepreneur with Russian-Kazakh roots, bought the chateau last year. However, hopes that the historic building and with it the town would get a new lease of life soon faded away after he fenced off the entire area, prohibiting locals from walking through the grounds, as they had been used to doing for decades.

He also began renovating the building without a building permit. The authorities ordered him to stop the building works and let them into the castle, but according to Deník N, he refuses to let anyone in or to communicate with the local authorities, including the town hall, saying that the castle is his and claiming what he does there isn't anyone else's business.

The chateau, located in South Bohemia near the Austrian border, is notable for being the former summer residence of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The archduke stayed there the night before his fateful departure to Sarajevo in 1914, where he was assassinated, triggering the First World War.