Zprávy památkové péče 2017, 77(5):529-534

The Žatec hops landscape in the second half of the 19th century and early 20th century

Lucie Radová

NPÚ, ÚOP v Ústí nad Labem

The characteristic feature of the hops landscape around Žatec, more than in other cases, is the complete interconnection of landscape and settlements. However, it would not be possible to use it extensively without the facilities that the settlements provided for the subsequent processing of hops. On the contrary, the specific appearance of towns and villages in the Žatec area, as well as their urbanization and development, are influenced by the requirements resulting from the need to process this crop. Žatec hops have been considered to be the world's best since at least the middle of the 18th century, which was the breakthrough period when hops farming saw a massive development, but the biggest "transformation" of the countryside and settlements came only during the last third of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. This period is associated with major changes in hops cultivation and processing technology. The greatest impact on this process was the gradual introduction of artificial hop drying. The symbol of this activity are the hop drying rooms, tower structures initially built into the ground plan of the village farms or directly into some of the farm buildings, later emerging on the outskirts of the villages as a self-standing new buildings. Hops are crops that require specific conditions, both during their actual growth and subsequent treatment. During transport and processing, there are chemical changes in the brewing substances in hops, so the drying has to take place as soon as possible after sowing. The drying rooms have accelerated the act of processing and thus increased the area of the hopfields.
The second revolutionary innovation of the hopfield landscape was the cultivation of hops on wire constructions. These trellises began to be built at the end of the 19th century, and they are still in use today. It was cheaper to acquire such constructions than the hops poles that had been used until then; the hopfields had higher yields, the hops were higher quality, and covers and mechanization could be used in cultivating the hops, which helped to save labor.
Both of the above-mentioned innovations led to great developments in hop production, which became the dominant agricultural sector in this area and was thus involved in the development of other areas, in particular rail transport and electrification. Above all, it gave this landscape its specific atmosphere and dynamic appearance, influenced by hops, one of the fastest growing plants in the world.

Keywords: hops, hopfield, drying room, landscape, settlement

Published: December 1, 2017  Show citation