Kroměříž commemorates 10 years since its inscription on the UNESCO list

Kroměříž - In the coming months, Kroměříž will commemorate the tenth anniversary of the inclusion of the Kroměříž gardens and castle on the UNESCO list with lectures, a conference, and a music festival. For example, a two-day international meeting titled What Threatens Historical Gardens will take place, which includes an offsite meeting of the Czech Commission for UNESCO. This was announced to journalists today by the chairwoman of the UNESCO Club Kroměříž, Eva Nováková.
    The Kroměříž gardens and castle were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in December 1998. The private non-profit organization World Monument Fund (WMF), whose goal is to rescue endangered architectural and cultural heritage worldwide, has listed both gardens among the 100 most endangered world monuments for the year 2008. Their condition has been primarily affected by floods at the end of the last century, which uprooted about a hundred historical trees.
    The conference, which will take place at the Archbishop's Castle from June 5, is intended to draw attention to their state and the necessity of restoration. For example, Minister of Culture Václav Jehlička and the Czech ambassador to UNESCO in Paris, Petr Janyška, have confirmed their participation. The event will also include the approval of a joint memorandum. "We want to emphasize that the gardens are an integral part of the heritage and are often more important to people than the buildings," pointed out Nováková.
    In mid-June, visitors can look forward to Orff's cantata Carmina Burana performed by the Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno and the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Zlín. The UNESCO Club will award the Bishop Karel Lichtenštejn von Kastelkorn Prize for the first time. This man served in the city during the time Kroměříž was recovering from the Thirty Years' War, and thanks to him, the castle and gardens were built in the city. A graphic sheet will be awarded to 13 individuals and institutions.
    The popular music festival Music in the Gardens and Castle in Kroměříž will also reflect the commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the inscription on the UNESCO list this year. The programming of the concerts is based on composers who worked directly in the city or on the legacy of other Baroque composers' works that are preserved in the castle's music archive. The greenhouse and rotunda of the Flower Garden, the atrium of the Elementary Art School, the Assembly Hall of the castle, and the church in Mořice will come alive with music. One of the most interesting concerts will be dedicated to Joseph Antonín Štěpán, whose works are abundant in the original castle collection. Two compositions will be performed in world premiere at the concert, interpreted on an original hammer piano from 1797.
    The UNESCO Club Kroměříž was established on September 9, 1991. Its main goal was the inscription of Kroměříž monuments on the UNESCO list and the further development of the city's culture in conjunction with European culture.