UNESCO: The proposal for the inscription of Great Moravian monuments is justified

Prague - Moravian Mikulčice and Slovak Kopčany, which are jointly proposed for inclusion in the UNESCO list, have a chance of success, according to an expert from this international organization. Both sites were visited in recent days, and according to the Ministry of Culture, he stated that he considers the proposal scientifically fully justified. The inscription of a monument on the UNESCO list is considered prestigious and primarily brings interest from tourists.
    The Ministry informs about the visit on its website. Together with its Slovak counterpart, it submitted a proposal in October 2007 to have the monuments of Great Moravia inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List: the Slavic settlement in Mikulčice and the church of St. Margaret of Antioch in Kopčany.
    "There are not many such bilateral proposals in the field of cultural heritage around the world," said Michal Beneš from the UNESCO department at the Ministry of Culture to ČTK earlier. The nomination of the Great Moravian monuments could thus be a good move - UNESCO has a preference for vanished empires. The Czech Republic must choose a certain tactic when selecting candidates, as it has a very high number of inscribed monuments in relation to its area and population. Countries with many inscriptions find it difficult to promote additional ones. The Czech Republic has 12 sites on the list.
    The Intergovernmental Committee for World Heritage at UNESCO decided in July that it would address the joint Czech and Slovak proposal. The Ministry of Culture already considers this a significant success. The committee has included this nomination as one of 30 in further proceedings.
    The dispatched expert in early October focused on the condition of the settlement, the authenticity of the monument, and the system of heritage protection, especially in the field of archaeology. In his assessment, he emphasized the connection between the Slovak and Czech parts of the Great Moravian agglomeration through the intended footbridge over the Morava River and on other aspects of how to present the settlement in Mikulčice to visitors, as well as creating a suitable background.
    However, experts come to assess candidate monuments repeatedly - and further visits are often unannounced. The result is a comprehensive expertise, the results of which will be known only in June next year. This is then one of the documents for the UNESCO committee when deciding on the inscription.