Zprávy památkové péče 2022, 82(2):269-283

Kutná Hora - zlatá éra stříbrného města

Aleš Pospíšil

NPÚ, ÚOP Střední Čechy

The article describes the developments in the World Heritage Site of Kutná Hora in the last decade (2011-2021) and follows up on a similarly focused article published by the author on the pages of this magazine in 2011. As recently as the 1960s, Kutná Hora was characterized by experts as the most structurally endangered town in Czecho-slovakia, but after 1989 political changes brought about a fundamental change in the approach to this unique complex. The imaginary "golden era" of the restoration of the historic city center began with the first decade of the 21st century, when most of the most important monuments were surrounded by scaffolding, and movement through the city was made more difficult between piles of paving stone for the new pavement. And this extraordinary period continued in the following decade (2011-2021), as this paper aims to show. In the introductory part, the author discusses the specific panorama of the city, characterized by the arrangement of the most important landmarks in a single line on the edge of the terrain break above the Vrchlice river, and describes in detail the restoration actions of each of the buildings in the last ten years. Subsequent sections in the same sense deal with the restoration of the urban space and housing development, the buildings of the former Cistercian monastery in the suburb of Sedlec, the restoration of the Dačický House, which houses the local Foundation Kutná Hora - a UNESCO World Heritage Site and operates an exhibition on World Heritage Sites, the only one of its kind in the Czech Republic, or separately the monitoring and concept of protection of the UNESCO property. The author concludes by recapitulating the reasons why he considers the defined period to be a continuation of the "golden era" of the restoration of the Kutná Hora heritage fund, which started in the first decade of the 21st century. Firstly, it was the owners or administrators of the monuments who, through their enthusiasm and diligence, started to prepare the actions and then, during the implementation, deservedly enjoyed the well-done work of the designers, construction companies and restorers. Secondly, it was their own sources of funding or the possibility of obtaining funds from a number of subsidy programs, such as the titles of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, the Central Bohemian Region, the City of Kutná Hora and the European Union Structural Funds. Thirdly, it was the unusually strong interest of tourists, which is certainly closely related to the financing of property repairs and which culminated in 2019, with the Sedlec ossuary reaching the remarkable half a million visitors in that year. Finally, the author summarizes the financial resources spent in the period 2011-2021 on the restoration of the monuments of Kutná Hora and Sedlec and arrives at the figure of two billion Czech crowns.

Zveřejněno: 1. červen 2022  Zobrazit citaci