Museum curators still want the mammoth hunters' archeopark at Věstonice

Mikulov (Břeclavsko) - The management of the museum in Mikulov is not giving up on its plans to create an archaeological park in Dolní Věstonice in the Břeclav region, where a team of renowned researcher Karel Absolon once discovered the Věstonice Venus. The project was estimated to cost 84 million crowns, with most of the funding intended to come from European subsidies. However, due to issues with land, the request for funding was not submitted. The museum is now preparing documentation to submit a funding application next year, its director Jiří Kubín told ČTK today.
     "The entire Věstonice area is extraordinarily significant from a historical perspective. It is a site of global importance. Therefore, we do not want the archaeological park project to be left on hold," the director emphasized.
     The construction of the complex has been in discussion for years. It should be located in the Pavlov Hills, which were among the most inhabited areas of Europe during the Stone Age. Due to the numerous discovered settlements, archaeologists even nicknamed it the Paleolithic New York.
     "We have a great debt to this area. A modern exhibition should have been established a long time ago," Kubín noted some time ago. He emphasized that Věstonice and its surroundings significantly lag behind other well-known archaeological areas - the German Neanderthal or the Austrian Willendorf.
     Although there has been an exhibition dedicated to prehistoric hunters in Dolní Věstonice for years, it is significantly outdated. The new building is to be erected on the border of the cadastral area of Věstonice and the neighboring Pavlov, directly above the uncovered archaeological excavations.
     Visitors should see numerous examples of ancient hunters' art in display cases, especially animal figurines made of fired clay. The facility should include a spacious hall for lectures, which has been lacking for visitors to this archaeological site.
     If the project goes ahead, construction work could start as soon as next year.