Sloveni want to get Plečnik's buildings into UNESCO themselves, without the Czech Republic

Prague - The Czech Republic and Slovenia will no longer jointly prepare the nomination of the works of Slovenian architect Josip Plečnik for the UNESCO list. The Slovenians have decided to prepare only a national nomination based on the recommendations of experts, who believe it has a better chance of success. Simona Cigánková, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Culture, told ČTK. The joint nomination, Timeless Humanist Architecture of Jože Plečnik in Ljubljana and Prague, had been in preparation for six years and was to be submitted this year. The project included the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Prague.

This church is a national cultural monument and is currently undergoing a major reconstruction, which was also supposed to be one of the steps towards nomination for the prestigious list. Slovenia was the main coordinator of the preparations. 60 years have passed since Plečnik's death, whose greatest impact in the Czech Republic is seen at Prague Castle, last year.

After an agreement with Czech partners, the Slovenian Ministry of Culture requested consultations on the form of the nomination from the advisory body of the World Heritage Committee, the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) last year. The council stated that the transnational nomination in its current form does not guarantee a chance for inscription on the UNESCO list. According to them, the best chance lies with the national, that is, only Slovenian serial nomination of Plečnik's architectural and urban works in Ljubljana.

"Although we are very sorry to end our cooperation on the transnational nomination (...), we well understand and recognize the reasons formulated based on expert consultations with ICOMOS that led to this decision," Cigánková told ČTK. According to her, the Czech side will seek further opportunities to support and promote the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Vinohrady, which was included in the transnational series.

The historic center of Prague has been on the prestigious UNESCO list since 1992. On the indicative list of monuments that each country intends to submit for inscription, the Czech Republic had among nearly twenty entries an expansion of the center to include additional monuments, including consideration of the Vinohrad church. However, this intention was abandoned when the joint nomination with Slovenia took precedence. The spokesperson stated today that the Ministry of Culture will reconsider this option.

The Czech Republic has 12 entries on the prestigious list, which is considered a great success given the country's size. In terms of the number of entries, it ranks among the top 30 in the world. The most recent site was inscribed in 2003, but this year the committee is expected to consider the nomination of Žatec and in 2024 the transnational nomination of the Krušnohoří landscape or the nomination of the stud farm in Kladruby.