UNESCO Heritage

Praha (Prague) - Historical downtown

(on UNESCO List entered in year 1992)

Each part of the capital city of the Czech Lands – the Lesser Town, the Castle District, the Old and New Towns, was developed from the 10th century onwards. As well as Prague Castle, the Cathedral of St. Vitus and Charles Bridge, many churches and palaces were also constructed which together form a magnificent architectural, artistic and spiritual ensemble.

Telč - Historical downtown

(on UNESCO List entered in year 1992)

The city was built on the original foundations following a devastating fire at the end of the 14th century. A number of the renaissance and baroque townhouses remain to this day strengthened by a protective system of ponds. The gothic castle was rebuilt in the renaissance style at the end of the 16th century.

Český Krumlov - Historical downtown

(on UNESCO List entered in year 1992)

The castle complex with its unique baroque theatre, the meander in the River Vltava, the city arms with its five-leaved rose, medieval streets and stone townhouses. This is Český Krumlov – a cosmopolitan city with a unique atmosphere.

Žďár nad Sázavou - Pilgrimage Church of St. John of Nepomuk at Zelená Hora

(on UNESCO List entered in year 1994)

Pilgrimage church of St. John of Nepomuk, cloister with central dome.

The pilgrimage church, dedicated to St. John of Nepomuk, was built in the early 1820s. It is the finest work of the architect Jan Blažej Santini and is the most original example of the so-called baroque gothic style. It was built on a five-pointed star plan and is surrounded by a cemetery and cloisters.

Kutná Hora - Historical downtown, Church of St. Barbora, Cathedral of Our Lady at Sedlec

(on UNESCO List entered in year 1995)

Ever since the end of the 13th century the history of Kutná Hora has been inseparably linked to the mining of silver ore. The historical centre is an architectural jewel of European importance, and the late gothic Church of St. Barbora and the Cathedral of Our Lady in Sedlec, rebuilt in the baroque gothic style, create a notional entrance gateway to the royal mining city.

Lednice-Valtice Area

(on UNESCO List entered in year 1996)

Between the 17th and 20th centuries the ruling Dukes of Liechtenstein transformed their domains into one huge park, where the baroque and neo-gothic architecture of their chateaux are married with smaller buildings and a landscape that was fashioned according to the English principles of landscape architecture.

Kroměříž - Gardens and castle

(on UNESCO List entered in year 1998)

The castle was built on earlier foundations in the 17th century and represents a uniquely-preserved Central European baroque princely residence. Its neighbouring gardens include the Podzamecká garden under the castle in a natural English-style landscape and the early baroque Flower Gardens.

Holašovice - Village reservation

(on UNESCO List entered in year 1998)

Holašovice is an exceptionally well-preserved example of a traditional Central European village. A number of high-quality village buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries in a style known as „South Bohemian Folk Baroque“ have been preserved on a ground plan that dates from the middle ages.

Litomyšl - Gardens and castle

(on UNESCO List entered in year 1999)

The renaissance castle from the second half of the 16th century is an excellent example of an arcade castle based on an Italianate style. Despite reconstruction of the interior at the end of the 18th century, outwardly it has retained an almost unadulterated renaissance appearance, including the unique sgrafitto facades and gables. A number of commercial buildings and a garden have also been preserved.

Olomouc - Holy Trinity Column

(on UNESCO List entered in year 2000)

This memorial column, erected in the early years of the 18th century, is the most outstanding example of a type of monument specific to central Europe. In the characteristic regional style known as ‘Olomouc Baroque’ and rising to a height of 35 m, it is decorated with many fine religious sculptures, the work of the distinguished Moravian artist Ondřej Zahner.

Brno - Tugendhat Villa

(on UNESCO List entered in year 2002)

The Tugendhat Villa, built in 1929 - 1930 in Brno, is one of the most important examples of the functionalist style in the European period of the architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Using a steel frame without load-bearing walls allowed the architect to create the new and informal concept of an open and variable space that is linked with its natural surroundings.

Třebíč - The Jewish Quarter and the Basilica of St. Procopius

(on UNESCO List entered in year 2003)

The ensemble of the Jewish Quarter and the Basilica is a unique example of the close co-existence of Christian and Jewish culture from the Middle Ages until the 20th century. The Basilica of St. Procopius. Originally built as part of the Benedictine monastery in the early 13th century, it was influenced by Western European ideas in its construction.

Intangible cultural heritage

Slovácko Verbuňk

(on UNESCO List entered in year 2005)

Slovácko Verbuňk belongs to male saltation dances. It is an impromptu dance, which is not bound by exact choreography rules. A pre-show consisting of a dance song is an indispansable part of it. The dance can be encountered in the southeast part of Moravia - in the ethnographic area of Slovácko (sometime translated as Moravian Slovakia) Depending on some speicific local features, it can appear in sever regional subtypes. Verbuňk is a part of natural dancing occasions (such as feasts or balls), but it exists in a stage form as well.

Falconry

(on UNESCO List entered in year 2010)

Descriptions of Shrovetide processions and masks in the Hlinec Region have been documented since the 19th century. In some villages, they have been occurring spontaneously for several generations almost unchanged to the present (Hamry, Studnice, Vortová).

Lent

(on UNESCO List entered in year 2010)

Falconry is one of the oldest relationships between man and predator, which has lasted for more than 4000 years. It is the traditional activity of hunting using trained birds of prey in a natural environment.