Czech Republic wants more entries on UNESCO, has 15 candidates

Prague - The Czech state would like to reverse the stagnation that has accompanied the number of heritage sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List for nearly ten years. The Czech Republic has 12 entries on this prestigious list, and it has been 20 years since the first three were added this year, but no new site has been added since 2003. Although the number of Czech heritage sites is double the average of countries with listings, the Czechs would like to continue acquiring them. There are 15 candidates.
     Today, at a conference held on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage UNESCO, Jiří Vajčner, the director of the Heritage Preservation Department of the Ministry of Culture, stated this. The sites that each country intends to nominate are contained in a so-called indicative list. Without the site being on the list for at least a year before the application is submitted, it cannot be registered, he noted. The Czech Republic has had such a list since 1991, and the last entry was the Erzgebirge Mining Cultural Landscape added this year.
     According to Vajčner, this is also one of the four cultural assets around which the most is happening today, and thus a request for their inscription may soon be made. These include the West Bohemian spa triangle, the archaeological open-air museum of Mikulčice-Kopčany, and the Třeboň fish ponds. For the UNESCO committee, it is currently important when assessing applications to see whether the nominations are being prepared in cooperation with another country - as is the case with Mikulčice, the spas, and the Erzgebirge.
     The nomination documentation is also being developed for the transmitter and hotel on Ještěd, the fortress of Terezín, and the expansion of the historical core of Prague, particularly including Plečnik's church in Vinohrady, Müller Villa, Břevnov Monastery, and the summer palace Hvězda. According to Vajčner, the nomination for the technical heritage related to hop processing in Žatec and the cultural landscape associated with the stud farm in Kladruby is also in a similar stage of preparation.
     Conversely, the nominations for Karlštejn and Slavonice are currently "inactive," which according to Vajčner has suffered due to the large number of previous registrations for the Czech Republic; they have been withdrawn from consideration by the UNESCO Committee. The same fate befell the hand paper mill in Velké Losiny, which fell into a "thematic trap." If it is recommended to supplement the nomination with a similar heritage, it is hard to find in this case, he mentioned. The indicative list is supplemented by Braun's Bethlehem, industrial buildings in Ostrava, and spa facilities in Luhačovice.