Zprávy památkové péče 2013, 73(3):187-198

Technological and industrial heritage as a cultural-historically valuable territories and as part of the historic cultural landscape in the international context

Věra Kučová

The historic cultural landscape in the Czech Republic is closely linked with economic development. Large-scale production and industrial complexes played a role in shaping the image of towns and smaller settlements so much that in many places they form quite iconic constructional landmarks, both in terms of area or height, and often with outstanding architectural quality.
This article notes a number of general provisions that exist in the legal system of the Czech Republic and which serve as a basis for designating monuments of technological and industrial heritage and their complexes as subjects of public interest, monuments which fall into the category of territories whose protection and preservation should be a matter of common understanding. The article notes some significant losses of built environment that represented major industry and internationally recognized fields, especially from the 20th century. Despite years of efforts to stress the importance of technical heritage in conservation practice, the emphasis on protecting stylistic architectural monuments of a non-productive nature and urban areas still persists, and major compleyes of industrial heritage continue to disappear. These monuments have still not been sufficiently identified and documented everywhere; there are many important buildings and complexes that have no legal protection and are not even included on the register of planning analytical materials, although a decree to the Building Act allows for such way of a certain protection.
A contrast, as well as an encouragement, is the success of a number of important technical heritage sites having been inscribed into the World Heritage List over the last ten or so years. Their range is being increasingly defined to include not only the production process, but also the related dwelling components. A large group of internationally recognized line-based technical monuments are transport works, particularly railways and waterways, including the associated constructions and technologies. Technical monuments on the World Heritage List are usually of a thematically multilayered nature, reflecting the richness of social developments and their impact on the landscape. A careful justification of their values, together with an emphasis on their broader urban and landscape context, is inspirational in many ways in finding parallels in the industrial heritage of the Czech Republic. The genius loci of cities, villages, and cultural landscapes is not based merely on art-historical monuments - in a country as heavily urbanized as the Czech Republic, it is essential to think conceptually about protecting the iconic and symbolic evidence of the period of technical and industrial prosperity and to perceive it as a culturally and historically valuable territory.

Keywords: Technological monuments, industrial heritage, world heritage, historic cultural landscape, conservation

Published: September 1, 2013  Show citation