In the Kroměříž gardens, the National Center for Culture will be established

Kroměříž - A National Center for Culture will be established in the Podzámecká and Květná Gardens in Kroměříž, aimed at educating both experts and the general public. The investment, which also includes a complete restoration of this unique monument, will amount to approximately one billion crowns. If funding is secured from the state and the European Union, the center will start operating as early as the beginning of 2010. This was reported by Jan Slezák, the director of the National Heritage Institute in Kroměříž.
    The unique Květná Garden was created between 1665 and 1675. It is the only originally preserved garden from this period in the Czech Republic. At the beginning of December 1998, it was inscribed together with the local Archiepiscopal Castle and the Podzámecká Garden on the UNESCO World Heritage List. In 2007, the private non-profit organization World Monuments Fund listed both gardens among the 100 most endangered world heritage sites for the year 2008. The gardens and the castle are owned by the state.
    Both cultural monuments are in significantly devastated condition, largely due to flooding at the end of the last century. At that time, approximately a hundred historical trees were uprooted. "Nevertheless, both gardens have retained the essential elements that authentically testify to the garden artistry of previous centuries," Slezák pointed out.
    The project, costing around one billion crowns, focuses primarily on the preservation and development of historical and cultural heritage within world heritage sites. The National Center for Garden Culture will, according to Slezák, integrate the public presentation of the unique complex of gardens and castle with an educational, professional, and methodological center at least in a Central European context.
    The methodological center will concentrate leading experts on the topic of garden architecture, who will contribute to creating guidelines for the restoration and maintenance of historical gardens and parks throughout the country.
    The professional center will serve the public; in the research rooms, interested parties will be able to study historical collections of the castle, as well as professional literature. They will be able to view a permanent exhibition on gardens and short-term exhibitions with garden themes.
    The educational center will then focus on increasing the qualifications of gardeners and workers involved in the care of historical greenery.
    The project, including the restoration of the gardens, is expected to be financially supported by the state, the European Union, the Zlín Region, the city of Kroměříž, the Olomouc Museum of Art, and the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague.