Abstract
The study presents the results of qualitative research carried out between 2019 and 2022 within the framework of a project named the Discourse of Material: Traditional Craft Techniques that May Salvage Cultural Heritage and Current Lifestyle. The target group consisted of state castle managers and private owners of aristocratic residences in the Czech Republic.
The main aim of the research was to identify factors that influence care, preservation and restoration of heritage buildings and their furnishing funds. The introductory part of the study describes confiscation of aristocratic estates after the Second World War, restitution of aristocratic estates after 1989 and return of furnishings.
Attention is also paid to the emergence and formation of the role of castle managers tasked with administration, preservation and development of aristocratic residences. Subsequently, the study describes the qualitative research which sought to reveal the reasons for the behaviour of the respondents, i.e., state castle managers and private owners of heritage buildings, selected by non-probabilistic sampling, resulting from the competences, limitations or possibilities of building management or owners.
A partial objective of the study was to ascertain how restoration works and crafts are procured and used. Part of the research consisted in a comparison of the respondents' statements and their perception of the current situation concerning crafts and their development in the Czech Republic.
The research and its conclusions opened up the issue of management of heritage buildings in state and private ownership, which is perceived rather as a marginal phenomenon. Until now, not much research focused on some aspects of the ownership of Czech heritage sites has been carried out in the Czech Republic nor abroad.