The region proposed Svatý Hostýn and Štípa as national cultural monuments

Zlín - The Zlín Region has proposed to the Ministry of Culture that the pilgrimage sites of Svatý Hostýn in the Kroměříž area and Zlín-Štípa be declared national cultural monuments. Inclusion on the prestigious list would increase both locations' chances of obtaining funds for repairs and restoration, Miroslav Kašný (KDU-ČSL), a councilor of the Zlín Region responsible among other things for heritage care, told ČTK today.

"We would be pleased if both of these remarkable pilgrimage sites were granted the status of national cultural monuments. It is both a matter of prestige, but also a prerequisite for better opportunities to draw financial resources needed for the repairs and restoration of these monuments," said Kašný.

He also reminded that when Velehrad in the Uherské Hradiště area was declared a national cultural monument in 2008, it initiated a multi-year process of restoring the pilgrimage site, financed mainly through European funds. "At the same time, other projects to support tourism in the vicinity of Velehrad were also implemented," added the councilor.

In March of this year, the Ministry of Culture urged the Zlín Region to identify significant pilgrimage sites in the area as architectural and spiritual landmarks of the cultural landscape. "At the moment, we are negotiating with the owners, namely with the parishes, and in cooperation with the National Heritage Institute, we are preparing a more precise spatial identification of these significant pilgrimage sites proposed for declaration as national cultural monuments," said Romana Habartová, head of the regional department of culture.

National cultural monuments form the most valuable and significant part of the cultural heritage. The government decides on their inclusion in the list, which is published on the website of the National Heritage Institute.

As of July 1, 2017, there were over 300 immovable monuments on it. In the Zlín Region, they include the Archbishop's Castle and gardens in Kroměříž, the Baroque cemetery in Střílky, the windmill in Bařice - Velké Těšany, the resistance memorial at Ploština, the Vizovice Castle, the Mikulášek's vicarage in Jasenná, the Protestant church in Velká Lhota, the vicarage in Velké Karlovice, the wooden structures of Dušan Jurkovič at Pustevny, the Wallachian Open-Air Museum in Rožnov pod Radhoštěm, Great Moravian archaeological sites in Uherské Hradiště, Staré Město, and Modrá, the Cistercian monastery at Velehrad, Buchlov Castle with the chapel of Saint Barbara, Buchlovice Castle, the church of Saint Michael in Staré Město, and the remains of the early medieval fortress of Saint Clement in Osvětimany.