Towns and cities UNESCO do not want Prague to disappear from the list of monuments

Czech Krumlov/Prague - Representatives of the voluntary association of municipalities Czech Heritage UNESCO agreed today in Český Krumlov that it would be a shame if Prague lost its UNESCO status. They discussed a critical letter that the UNESCO World Heritage Committee sent to Prague due to the possible threat to the Prague Heritage Reserve. However, they did not provide any recommendations to Prague's representatives today. Michaela Severová, the director of the Czech Heritage UNESCO association, told ČTK this after the general meeting.

According to ČTK sources, the city of Prague prepared a letter for Minister of Culture Antonín Staněk in response to the letter from UNESCO. Jiří Skalický, the director of the heritage care department of the Prague City Hall, did not want to comment on the information for ČTK today.

The spokesperson for the Ministry of Culture, Simona Cigánková, told ČTK that the office, after receiving the decision from the World Heritage Committee, sent a letter to Prague's mayor Adriana Krnáčová (ANO) on August 20. "The Ministry of Culture is waiting for a response from the City Hall. We need to agree on organizing a UNESCO mission to Prague and addressing other requests that are the subject of the decision,” the spokesperson stated.

In the decision that the UNESCO World Heritage Committee adopted in early July in Bahrain and addressed to Prague, which ČTK has at its disposal, it urged Prague to strengthen heritage care and management. According to UNESCO, the reason is to ensure that the exceptional cultural values of Prague's historic core are not threatened. The committee also mentioned progress that the state has made in restoration work and adjustments to the South-North Corridor project, as well as a review of the Management Plan proposal. It urgently calls for the Management Plan for the center of Prague to be completed, and for the state to approve the relevant legal documents, such as the amendment to the law on state heritage care, which should strengthen the protection and management of heritage.

The committee "expresses deep concern" regarding the number of extensive construction projects planned in the buffer zone of the property (the area listed on the UNESCO list) and its wider surroundings. The Czech Republic is to submit an updated report on the state of conservation of the listed site to the World Heritage Centre by December 1, 2019, which the World Heritage Committee will review at its meeting in 2020.

"Mayors wanted to hear information about what is really going on, to form an idea, not just from the media, but from Prague's representatives. There is an agreement that these are issues of individual member cities and UNESCO, not our association. The mayors said they wish us well and that we certainly would not want to lose Prague, that is certain. However, the mayors did not provide any recommendations," said Severová to ČTK, who works as the head of the culture and tourism department of the city of Litomyšl.

Representatives of 12 towns and municipalities listed as UNESCO sites also spoke today about increased cooperation with the ministries of culture and local development. "We want to continue to utilize the UNESCO Heritage Support Program, where the funding is decreasing; we talked about how to get that money back. We are also newly collaborating with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: they want us to do something together for diplomats, as they rightly feel that UNESCO monuments are the showcase of the entire Czech Republic," Severová said.

Severová could not quantify the amount of money the Czech state provides in the form of grants and subsidies to the cities listed as UNESCO sites. However, according to her, the UNESCO status helps with applications for funding from the IROP program.

Czech Heritage UNESCO is a voluntary association of municipalities and towns in the Czech Republic, on whose territory a monument is listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.