Brno will submit a proposal to the court to annul two heritage zones, the councilors approved it

Brno - The Brno council approved today the submission of a proposal to abolish two heritage zones that were declared by the Ministry of Culture. One of the zones concerns the ring around the city center, while the other pertains to the Královo Pole district. According to the city, this adds new responsibilities for property owners and the municipality. This was stated to ČTK by the spokesperson for the municipality, Filip Poňuchálek.

"Previously, the affected properties were only located within the protected zone of the urban conservation area, and for example, during renovations of the interior of an apartment, owners did not have to request a binding opinion from heritage officials. However, now owners of these properties must obtain a binding opinion in advance even for construction-maintenance works that pertain only to the interior, such as changes in the internal layout of apartments, various renovations, and so on. This significantly burdens them administratively, as well as the office that must oversee this," Poňuchálek stated.

With the declaration of the urban conservation area in Brno, the Ministry of Culture partially addressed the issue of so-called late-registered heritage sites, which lost their protection due to legislative changes in 1988.

In 1988, a new law on heritage care came into effect, abolishing the state list of cultural monuments. Its fund was integrated into the new Central List of Cultural Monuments of the Czech Republic. The previous legislation recognized the status of a monument not only for properties on the list but also for buildings considered cultural monuments. Heritage officials were expected to document and subsequently record all these properties on the list. However, in 2015, the Ministry of Culture decided to remove all late-registered monuments from the list. Almost half of the buildings are located in Brno, which unsuccessfully went to court over this issue.

The heritage zone in Královo Pole was declared by the ministry last autumn, while the zone affecting the Brno-střed urban district was declared this February. They are intended to protect villa neighborhoods and apartment buildings from the 19th and 20th centuries in the broader center and architecturally valuable buildings without heritage protection. The director of the Brno branch of the National Heritage Institute, Zdeněk Vácha, has repeatedly emphasized that the protection pertains to the exterior appearance of the buildings, not their interiors.

Regarding today's step by the municipality, Vácha expressed his opinion to Czech Radio: "This is a sad example of the disrupted relationship of the current representation of the city to its history and unique architectural heritage. In this way, it effectively renounces a part not only of the city's architectural heritage and, with the mentality of eastern raiders, it essentially puts it at risk."