Prague will commemorate 25 years since its inscription on the UNESCO list

Prague - Prague will commemorate 25 years since the inscription of the historic center on the UNESCO World Heritage list with the international conference Prague World 2017. It will address issues related to life in heritage-protected areas and the direction of UNESCO. The conference will take place from December 6 to 7 at the New building of the National Museum. Organizers introduced this to the journalists today.

“I would like it to be understood that Prague's presence on this significant list should not be taken for granted. Just as difficult as it is to get on the list, it is conversely quite easy to get off it,” said the councilor for culture Jan Wolf (KDU-ČSL/Trojkoalice).

In recent years, the historic center of the city has been depopulating. “We need to ask whether the depopulation of the center has any connection to UNESCO,” stated the director of the Institute of Planning and Development Ondřej Boháč. He outlined a theme that the conference should address among other things – what does it give to and take from Prague that the historic center of the city is on the list. In the development of the city, there often appears to be a conflict between preserving the old and building the new, Boháč added.

Several panels are planned for the main days of the conference, featuring representatives of the capital city, artists, and foreign guests. More information about the program can be found on the conference website.

The Department of Heritage Care of the Prague City Hall has prepared a book for the anniversary titled Prague World or Nine Interviews About the Historic Center of the Capital City. Among the personalities presenting a certain perspective on the metropolis are historian Václav Ledvinka, diplomat Michal Beneš, urban planner Jan Sedlák, and botanist and philosopher Jiří Sádlo. The conference organizers will also publish a brochure entitled The Prague Crop Exchange and Its Fates, which relates to the history of today’s New building of the National Museum.

From today until December 11, an exhibition titled Prague UNrealized is on display at Wenceslas Square, showcasing a selection of interesting unrealized projects and alternative competitive structures from the 19th and 20th centuries. Among the proposals are those that are more of a manifesto or a utopia.

Prague was inscribed on the UNESCO list on December 14, 1992. The protected historic core covers an area of 866 hectares, which includes Prague Castle and Hradčany, Malá Strana including Charles Bridge, the Old Town with Josefov, the New Town, and Vyšehrad.

Worldwide, there are 1,073 monuments on the UNESCO list. Twelve of them are in the Czech Republic. In addition to the historic core of Prague, they include, for example, the Tugendhat Villa in Brno, the historic gardens in Kroměříž, Kutná Hora, the Lednice-Valtice area, or the plague column in Olomouc. On the list of intangible cultural heritage are the Slovácko verbuňk, the carnival, falconry, the ride of kings, and Czech puppetry.