Czech, German Ore Mountains mining heritage seeks UNESCO-listing

Krupka, North Bohemia, Oct 13 (CTK) - The mining heritage sites on both Czech and German sides of the Ore Mountains jointly seek entry into the UNESCO list of world cultural heritage, Adam Srejber, from the culture department at the Czech regional office involved, has told journalists.

The Ustecky region, north Bohemia, cooperates with German partners on working out a project that is to map up the medieval mining activities in the Ore Mountains, promote them and contribute to their UNESCO-listing, Srejber said.

The Ore Mountains (Krusne hory, Erzgebirge) spread along the border of northwest Bohemia and southern Saxony.

The Technical University in Freiburg, Saxony, has been mapping up the mining heritage in the Saxon border zone since 1998.

The Czech part of the project, launched this July, received an EU subsidy of 211,000 euros.

The Usti region, along with the north Bohemian district museum in Most, the Technical University in Freiburg and the Montanregion Erzgebirge association, want to map up the 800-year history of the regional mining completely by 2012.

One of the project's goals is to unite the so far fragmented documentation so that the pieces of heritage can be further promoted together as a whole, Srejber said.

However, only selected sites will be proposed for UNESCO-listing. The Saxons have picked 34 of them, the Czech list is yet to be completed. It will probably include the Krupka town reserve, the Stary Martin mining gallery, the Komari vizka hill and the mountain railway connecting the towns of Most, Dubi and Moldava.

The request for the UNESCO list entry will probably be mediated for the Czechs by the German partners. "It is mainly a vision of our Saxon partners. This is the greatest aim but also the most difficult," said Srejber.

A total of 12 Czech monuments figure in the UNESCO list of world cultural and natural heritage. They are situated in nine of the country's 14 regions. Ustecky is among the remaining five regions that still wait for their heritage being listed.