The title of Historical Town of the Year 2024 was awarded to Moravská Třebová

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Prague - The title of Historical Town of the Year 2024 has been awarded to Moravská Třebová. The award is a reward for the effective use of funds for the restoration of monuments from the Ministry of Culture's program. The award, which includes a prize of one million crowns for further care for the monuments, was received today in Prague by Deputy Mayor Václav Dokoupil (KDU-ČSL).

The competition is organized by the Association of Historical Sites of Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia, in collaboration with the ministries of culture and local development. They reward the best use of subsidies from the Ministry of Culture's programs for urban monument reserves and zones. This year, the jury selected from 15 cities in the final of the 31st edition.

Nearly ten-thousand-strong Moravská Třebová in the Svitavy district also won among the towns of the Pardubice region. Dokoupil told ČTK that the town has made the Renaissance Town Hall accessible and created a new information system. At the same time, it acquired the Renaissance church from the local parish, which it is trying to repair and make accessible. "I believe the jury appreciated that we want to open the monuments to the public, so they are not just repaired buildings," stated Dokoupil.

The Minister for Local Development's award, which comes with a prize of 100,000 crowns, goes to Nové Město nad Metují in the Hradec Králové region and to Prague 1 for excellent implementation of the monument reserve regeneration program. A special award was given to Horní Slavkov from the Karlovy Vary region for the restoration of St. George's Church and to the town of Lipník nad Bečvou from the Olomouc region for the repair of a burgher house, fortifications, and a castle.

The awards were presented by Minister of Culture Martin Baxa (ODS). According to Jiří Vajčner, director of the Monument Care Department of the ministry, the regeneration programs for reserves and zones should have an annual budget of 700 million crowns. Additionally, the government succeeded in allocating 1.4 billion crowns for the restoration of the fortress towns of Terezín and Josefov. "I am convinced that the time of lesser abundance is behind us," said Vajčner today. According to him, the Ministry of Culture has also begun to emphasize plans for the protection of monument reserves and zones.

This year's award is linked to the establishment of the International Council on Monuments and Sites 60 years ago in Warsaw. April 18 has been celebrated as International Monuments and Sites Day under the patronage of UNESCO since 1983. This year it coincides with Good Friday, which is why the title of Historical Town of the Year 2024 was awarded in advance.

According to Naděždy Goryczková, director of the National Heritage Institute, a new theme for heritage protection should be announced on International Monuments and Sites Day, focusing on cultural heritage resilient to natural disasters and armed conflicts.

In the Czech Republic, there are about 40,000 immovable monuments, 39 urban monument reserves, and 255 urban monument zones.