The head of the Czech Council for Heritage and Sites criticized the Ministry of Culture's stance on the turntable

Prague - The Czech Republic is losing its former high reputation with the world UNESCO committee. This is mainly due to delays in fulfilling commitments in the case of Český Krumlov and the current stance of the Ministry of Culture, which is in contradiction with the own mission and commitment of the Czech Republic to remove the rotating auditorium from the gardens of Český Krumlov Castle. This was stated by the President of the Czech National Committee of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), Václav Girsa, at today's meeting on the occasion of the awarding of the Historic City of the Year title at Prague Castle.

The Czech National Committee of ICOMOS comments on all nomination proposals for the UNESCO list. The Czech Republic has 12 immovable monuments listed. "There are currently 15 sites on the waiting list, on the so-called indicative list for registration, and just last year two more proposals were submitted. The last time we were successful was in 2003 with Třebíč - that is, 16 years ago," Girsa recalled. One of the reasons why new listings are not increasing, according to him, is in addition to the UNESCO committee focusing a lot on third world monuments lately, also how the respective state respects its obligations to cultural heritage for already registered monuments.

"I emphasize that these are commitments that we have taken on ourselves and entirely voluntarily. Nothing like what we unfortunately often hear - that UNESCO arrogantly orders us to do something. It is primarily our concern, our interest, we ourselves have sought this, we ourselves wanted it, we ourselves wished for it," he stated.

According to Girsa, the current stance of the Ministry of Culture is in contradiction with the own mission and commitment of the Czech Republic to relocate the inappropriate object of the rotating auditorium from the unique gardens of Český Krumlov Castle. Minister of Culture Antonín Staněk (ČSSD) stated in February that the rotating auditorium will remain in the Baroque garden of Český Krumlov Castle. Many ministers before him were conversely in favor of placing the auditorium outside the garden.

The castle and garden complex in Český Krumlov has been on the UNESCO list since 1992, but since the inscription, there has been criticism of the placement of the auditorium in the historical garden. The Czech side now wants to resolve the long-standing dispute with an architectural competition for a new design of the auditorium, but wants to keep it in the garden due to tradition and popularity among viewers.

According to Girsa, the Czech Republic also did not find itself in a good light last year "after the arrogant disregard of correspondence with UNESCO by the previous leadership of Prague, which did not contribute to addressing the issues concerning the care of this significant world site." "Surely you understand that it is therefore difficult to ensure credibility for new nominations when the Czech Republic does not fulfill the relevant decisions of the World Heritage Committee even for sites already listed on the World Heritage List," Girsa said.