The Days of European Heritage will focus on monuments in the landscape

Prague - Monuments in the landscape and the landscape as a monument are the national themes of this year's European Heritage Days. Several days in which people in European countries remember their cultural heritage will take place from September 13 to 21 this year. In the Czech Republic, the European Heritage Days will begin on September 12 and 13 in České Budějovice.
    During the opening days, the Minister of Culture will again award several people the title of Carrier of the Tradition of Folk Crafts - to those who apply traditional methods or materials in their production.
    This year's national theme Monuments in the landscape and the landscape as a monument opens up possibilities for new perspectives on the mutual relationship between culture and nature - it allows us to realize the long-standing interaction between architecture and the landscape. Participants in the European Heritage Days can discover how cultural landscapes emerged in past centuries through human influence and that many elements of the landscape today perceived as "natural" are actually human creations.
    During the European Heritage Days, hundreds of monuments will be open, including those that are usually accessible, as well as others that open only on exceptional occasions for various reasons.
    The European Heritage Days have been held in Europe and also in the Czech Republic since 1991 under the patronage of the Council of Europe. The national opening takes place in a different city each year. The organizers are chosen by the Association of Historical Settlements of Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia. This year, the ceremony will take place in České Budějovice, and next year in Šternberk in the Olomouc region.
    The number of accessible monuments and visitors to the European Heritage Days in the Czech Republic is growing. In 1991, 50,000 people visited three hundred monuments, ten years later, there were over 700 open monuments seen by over half a million people. In 2006, the number of accessible sites exceeded a thousand, with 600,000 people coming to see them.