Zprávy památkové péče 2016, 76(2):155-158

Two articles on the 20th anniversary of the declaration of the first village heritage reservations: The potential of valuable historical villages for heritage protection, and the application of zoning analytical material tools

Karel Kuča, Věra Kučová

The year 2015 was a year of several major anniversaries for rural architecture. Twenty-five years have passed since the declaration of the first village heritage zones, and most significantly, this is the twentieth anniversary of the establishment of existing village heritage reservations. Two articles present this anniversary in a broader context.
In the first article, Karel Kuča and Věra Kučová contemplate the current potential and future overall protection of as-yet unprotected historically valuable rural aggregates, which, due to chaotic building development in rural settlements, is rapidly declining. The authors warn that there are about the same number of village heritage reservations and zones as there are urban, even though there are disproportionately more villages in the Czech Republic. At the same time, the village units here still have great potential which, unfortunately, has been rapidly disappearing in recent years both due to the gradual liberalization of building regulations as well as otherwise laudable grant programs such as the Green Savings (Zelené úspory) program that lead to the modification, thermal insulation, and the resulting destruction of valuable architectural complexes. In terms of urban structure, the increasing flow of people from the cities to the countryside is therefore a great risk, as is the related pressure to rebuild villages or build connected satellite centers. The authors call for the urgent verification of the values of the still surviving units and a search for ways to rescue them.

Keywords: village heritage reservations and zones; overall heritage protection; potential for protection; heritage losses; Ministry of Culture; history of the emergence of village heritage zones and reservations

Published: June 1, 2016  Show citation