The Czech Republic now has two monuments on the UNESCO list - the Krušnohoří and the stud farm

Baku/Prague – The number of Czech monuments listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List has today increased to fourteen after the addition of the Ore Mountains Mining Region and, somewhat unexpectedly, the National Stud Farm Kladruby nad Labem. This was decided by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee during its meeting in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku. The prestigious group of cultural and natural monuments of exceptional significance did not expand to include the remnants of the Roman Empire's frontier wall, which Slovakia had sought together with Germany, Austria, and Hungary.

The Ore Mountains Mining Region was nominated for the World Heritage List by the Czech Republic and Germany. The UNESCO committee highlighted today that it was a complicated but very well-coordinated proposal. The area consists of 22 components, of which 17 are located in Saxony and five in the Czech Ore Mountains. The Czech part includes the Jáchymov Mining Landscape, Abertamy - Boží Dar - Horní Blatná Mining Landscape, Red Tower of Death, Krupka Mining Landscape, and Mědník Mining Landscape.

"The exceptional value of the mining region of the Ore Mountains has been confirmed on both the Czech and Saxon sides," said the Governor of the Karlovy Vary Region, Jana Mračková Vildumetzová, in response to the listing on the World Heritage List. "The inclusion of the Ore Mountains among UNESCO sites recognizes the work and achievements of the people who have shaped this cross-border region for centuries," stated Saxony's Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer after the Committee's decision.

The Ore Mountains/Krušnohoří Mining Region has produced a number of significant inventions and innovations in mining and metallurgy, which particularly in the 16th century, but also later, spread from the Ore Mountains throughout Europe and other parts of the world.

The nomination of the Kladruby Stud Farm for the UNESCO World Heritage List was originally expected to be voted on next year, said Jiří Machek, the director of this site, to ČTK. "If I hadn't been watching the live stream, I wouldn't have believed it," he stated. The stud farm must fulfill several conditions by December next year, and the committee also added several recommendations.

"We expected that there would be no vote for us this year. On Thursday, I received information from Baku that they liked our nomination so much that they would vote on us this year," said the stud farm director. "The evaluation by ICOMOS was also very favorable," he added.

"If the landscape of the stud farm did not have its exceptional value, it would not have made it onto the list," said Roman Línek, Deputy Governor of the Pardubice Region, in response to ČTK today.

The stud farm in Kladruby nad Labem is the oldest large stud farm in the world, founded in the second half of the 16th century. The nomination documentation was submitted to UNESCO at the end of last January.

Due to Hungary changing its nomination proposal regarding the wall on the borders of the former Roman Empire at the last minute, this monument will not yet expand the list of cultural gems. Hungary wishes to remove part of the military wall in Budapest from World Heritage status. The Hungarian delegate stated that every government has the right to change its proposal and that he regrets that other countries are also losing their chance for inclusion on the prestigious list.

On the contrary, today, the Indian fort city of Jaipur, founded in 1727 and built according to thoughtful plans, was added to that list. Just on Saturday, it was the Iraqi Babylon, one of the most famous sites of antiquity, and the Icelandic national park Vatnajökull, famous for its namesake glacier, which is the second largest in Europe, along with the surrounding volcanic landscape.