REAL ESTATE NEWS

Czech Heritage List Grows

The Czech government has decided to increase the national cultural heritage list by adding 29 new heritage sites to the already protected 230.

Strange, even eccentric choices proved victorious. The list of national cultural heritage traditionally includes historical buildings of architectural value, Czech artifacts such as Bohemia's Crown Jewels, but also historical cars. The listed objects are supposed to document important moments in Czech history and culture and represent the Czech nation in the eyes of the international population.

Recently, some off the wall sites, such as a 1920's power plant, a tin mine and a 1930's Functionalist villa, triumphed in the end to be added to the official list. Perhaps surprisingly for foreign tourists, all of these new additions are located in urban as well as rural areas outside of the country's capital. In the past the majority of historical and cultural sites were sought after in the country's capital while the other cities and villages lacked the profit and recognition from tourism. The advantages of being on the list, according to the spokesman for the Ministry of Culture Jan Cieslar, include an increase in the influx of tourists, improved access to European as well as national subsidies and better protection.

Among the new sites on the list is the basilica in Velehrad, one of the most important pilgrimage sites in the Czech Republic, visited by the late John Paul II in 1990. According to its Vicar Petr Pradka, the chances of obtaining funds from Brussels might enable the restoration of the church which currently sits in bad condition.

Other newly added sites include The Tower of Death in Ostrov nad Ohri – a former communist work camp for political prisoners, the 13th century Gothic church of St. James the Greater in Jihlava, the 16th century water mill in Hoslovice, the oldest surviving wooden church in Broumov and the Cesky Sternberk castle located above the Sazava river. < back