The historical town of the year 2019 is Štramberk

Prague - The historic town of the year 2019 is Štramberk in the Moravian-Silesian Region. The award given for the best care of monuments and a prize of one million crowns for further care of cultural heritage was received today in Prague by the mayor of the town, Andrea Hlávková. In recent years, the Jaroňková lodge in the area of Trúba Castle and the Church of St. John of Nepomuk have been restored in Štramberk.

The competition is organized by the Association of Historical Settlements of Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia and the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry for Local Development, which recognize the best use of subsidies from the Urban Heritage Conservation Program. In the program, funds from state, municipal, and from the owner are combined for repairs. Štramberk has been a finalist in the competition twice.

"We do not yet know how we will use the money, but we have nearly 100 monuments in our territory, so we will definitely find the most suitable object to invest in," said the mayor of Štramberk to ČTK. "I think we received the award for long-term care for our monuments. During the entire time we have participated in this program, we have invested 60 million crowns into our monuments, which I think is a considerable amount for a town of about 3,500 residents," she added. Štramberk has been part of the program since its inception in 1993.

Among this year's 14 finalists and regional winners, the Minister for Local Development's award went to the towns of Nový Bor in the Liberec Region and Soběslav in the South Bohemian Region. They receive a reward of 100,000 crowns, just like all regional winners.

Soběslav has 27 cultural monuments within its territory; according to the association, it has successfully combined the restoration of historical and modern architecture during the restoration of the castle and the construction of the library, and the main square has been revitalized. In 2019, the town received 1.615 million crowns in the program, which was used for the restoration of two cultural monuments. Nový Bor, known for its glassmaking tradition, has 50 monuments. In 2019, it repaired four cultural monuments with the help of 1.47 million crowns from the ministry's program.

The Urban Monument Reserve of Štramberk has 98 cultural monuments within its territory. According to the organizing association, the reserve is undergoing long-term and systematic repairs. People are returning to the restored wooden cottages, which helps improve the demographic structure of the area.

In 2019, three cultural monuments were restored under the program for which the title of Historic Town is awarded, with financial support from the Ministry of Culture amounting to 2.185 million crowns. The city's contribution to the monument owners last year was 386,354 crowns, and the share of owners, including the city in the case it is the owner of the monument, was over 1.8 million crowns. The city manages its own fund for the restoration of non-monumental buildings within the reserve.

In the Czech Republic, there are about 40,000 immovable monuments and four dozen reserves and zones. Since 1993, the state has distributed approximately 5.4 billion crowns through the mentioned program, and 17,203 monuments have been restored. The total cost of the restoration, including contributions from cities and other entities, is 13.8 billion crowns.