Prague, June 9 (CTK) – The Czech Republic has taken the final step towards applying for entering the National Stud in Kladruby nad Labem, east Bohemia, in the UNESCO heritage list when an agreement establishing a nine-member council to coordinate the procedure was signed yesterday.
The agreement was signed by the agriculture and culture ministers, Marian Jurecka and Daniel Herman (both Social Democrats, CSSD), respectively.
The council will be chaired by Roman Linek, Pardubice Region first deputy governor, and its members include politicians from the Senate and some ministries.
The stud will file the application for UNESCO listing next year. It is supposed that it will last a few more years before the application may be accepted..
The Kladruby stud farm was established in 1562. It is the oldest large stud in the world.
In 2002, the Kladruby stud farm and its white horse breed acquired the status of national culture heritage. The horse is the first animal to become an official part of the Czech cultural heritage.
The history of the Kladruby white horse dates back to the 16th century. It is the oldest surviving horse breed developed specially for royal court purposes and state ceremonies. The Kladruby white horses are used, for instance, by the royal courts in Denmark and Sweden.
The core herd has 65 mares, four white stallions and four black stallions.
The stud farm breeds a total of 500 horses, including Old Kladruby white horses, the sole original Czech horse breed bred on the territory of the Czech Lands.
It is one of the oldest preserved cultural horse breeds in the world and is part of the national and world cultural wealth.
The stud, including the main stable complex, the chateau, the St Wenceslas and Leopold’s Church and the former water tower, was reconstructed during the past two years.
A total of 12 sights in the Czech Republic have entered the list of UNESCO tangible world cultural heritage, including the historical centres of Prague and Cesky Krumlov, south Bohemia, the South Bohemian village of Holasovice, the functionalist Tugendhat Villa in Brno, south Moravia, and the most recently the Jewish Town and St Prokopius Basilica in Trebic, south Moravia, listed in 2003.
