Small Monuments: A Threatened Phenomenon of the Czech Landscape

1
Small Monuments A Threatened Phenomenon of the
Czech Landscape

• Carol Hochman, Board Chairman, Friends of Via
• Michal Valencik, Via Heritage Fund Committee

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Content of the presentation

• Czech Republic and the UNESCOs World Heritage
  Committee
• Small monuments a threatened phenomenon of the
  Czech landscape
• Achievements of the Via Foundation Czech Heritage
  Society (photodocumentation)
• Concluding remarks

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UNESCOs World Heritage Committee

• October 1, 2003 the USA officially rejoined the
  UNESCO
• UNESCOs World Heritage Committee has established
  a program to strengthen and preserve world
  cultural heritage (http//whc.unesco.org)
• Czech Republic is represented on the World
  Heritage Committee list with 12 sites
• Historic Center of Prague (1992)
• Historic Center of Cesky Krumlov (1992)
• Historic Center of Telc (1992)
• Pilgrimage Church of St John of Nepomuk at Zelena
  Hora (1994)

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The Czech Republic is represented on the World
Heritage Committee list with 12 sites

• Gardens and Castle at Kromeriz (1998)
• Holasovice Historical Village Reservation (1998)
• Litomysl Castle (1999)
• Holy Trinity Column in Olomouc (2000)
• Tugendhat Villa in Brno (2001)
• Jewish Quarter and the Basilica of St. Procopius
  in Trebic (2003)
• Kutna Hora Historical Town Center with the
  Church of St. Barbara and the Cathedral of Our
  Lady at Sedlec (1995)
• Lednice-Valtice Cultural Landscape (1996)

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Czech landscape before the WW IIthe densest
network of small monuments

• Origins of monuments span from 15th through mid
  20th Century, with peak in the Baroque period
• Chapels, crosses, statues and columns reflected
  lifestyle of mostly rural population
• After WW I the last wave of small monuments
  construction memorials to war victims

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Czech landscape during the Communist regime (1948
1989) devastation

• Small monuments were considered the embodiment of
  religion which had to be eradicated
• Many small monuments were destroyed during the
  process of field consolidation into agricultural
  cooperatives
• People trying to maintain monuments were
  persecuted
• Unofficial strategy was to prevent repair and
  then demolish the object for sake of
  citizenssafety
• Over the 40 years thousands of monuments were
  lost and hundreds left as mere torsos

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Present situation Difficult renewal

• Cultural monuments have been low on the list of
  priorities of new governments after 1989 due to
  more acute infrastructure needs
• Repair of transportation network, hospitals,
  schools and cleaning of environmental damage were
  given priority
• Czech public and large corporations are more
  inclined to donate to social/health/children
  causes than to restoration of cultural monuments
  
• Small monuments are too small for the attention
  of the Ministry of Culture and less important
  than crumbling castles, chateaus and cathedrals
• Up to 2002 only one of the countrys 350
  foundations The Civic Forum Foundation
  focused on restauration of small monuments
  (capacity 15-20 small monuments/year)

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The Via Foundation Czech Heritage Society

• A year after the 2002 floods the Via Foundation
  in Prague created the Via Foundation Czech
  Heritage Society and raised over 80 000 USD
  mostly from fellow-citizens in the USA
• In 2004 the Via Foundation distributed the money
  to 38 restoration projects
• The average sum needed for restoration of a small
  monument ranges between 800 3 000 USD The
  unskilled work is usually done by local
  volunteers with oversight of a restoration
  specialist
• Charitable contributions to the Via Foundation
  Czech Heritage Society are restoring the beauty
  of the Czech landscape and revitalize citizen
  engagement in building civil society.

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Municipality of Listany, district Louny Chapel
of St. Peter and Paul

• before reconstruction after reconstruction
• The Chapel was built in 1882 at a crossing of
  field roads to near-by villages of Jimlin and
  Zbrasin.
• A grant of 2 072

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Committee for preservation of 1866 war memorials
Saving 8 graves at the military cemetery in
Maslojedy near Hradec Kralove
In mass graves are burried Czech, Polish,
Austrian and Romanian soldiers slain in the 1866
battle of Hradec Kralove during the
Prussian-Austrian War. It is a unique example of
military funeral architecture. A grant of 3 200
11
Municipality of Dolni Kralovice, district
Benesov Chapel in Libcice

• before reconstruction after reconstruction
• The chapel is the only reminder of a village
  Libcice that was demolished
• in the 70s to create a sanitary zone around a
  new portable water
• reservoir.
• A grant of 3100

12
Saurian Association Adelheid, Flora and Adolf
therapeutic springs
before and after reconstruction The three
reconstructed springs belong among 80 historical
sources from the 19th century that form the
Vincenz Priessnitz Spa in the Jesenik region.
Vincenz Priessnitz gave origins to modern
hydrotherapy. A grant of 1 820
13
Czech Bretheren Church in Kovanec, Central
Bohemia Reconstruction of a mortuary from 18th
Century

• before reconstruction after reconstruction
• A grant of 3 630

14
Maryska Civic Association, Stary Bohumin, North
Moravia Reconstruction of a chapel in former
plague graveyard

• before reconstruction
• A grant of 2 500

after reconstruction
15
Municipality of Holany near Ceska Lipa
Renovation of small cultural monuments in the
village district a prime example of the local
folk-art craftsmanship

• before and
  after reconstruction
• A grant of 3 180

16
Self-Help Association, Lestkov near Tachov,
Western Bohemia Reconstruction of a Baroque
statue of St. Dominik
before reconstruction (details) after
reconstruction A grant of 2 730
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The reentry of the USA to UNESCO was formally
acknowledged at a ceremonyon February 13, 2003.

• At the ceremony William Luers remembered the
  first lines of UNESCO preamble by Archibald
  MacLeish
• Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in
  the minds of men that the defenses of peace must
  be constructed. Ignorance of each others ways
  and lives has been a common cause, throughout the
  history of mankind, of that suspicion and
  mistrust between peoples of the world through
  which their differences have all too often broken
  into war.
• Efforts of the Via Foundation Czech Heritage
  Society are important for providing future
  generations with the opportunity to achieve this
  kind of understanding.

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• For more information about
• the Via Foundation Czech Heritage Society
• please look at www.nadacevia.cz
• Thank you very much for your attention