Page 73 - UNESCO_Zatec_2021_A4

Historic buildings of hop warehouses and packing rooms, Žatec, Nerudovo Square, 2020

th
changed. Since the end of the 19 century, hop fields Lišany and 3.7 ha in Strkovice. In the cadastre of the town
have been gradually defined in a field with very specific of Žatec, there are a total of 58.4 ha of fertile hop fields.
support structures, which will last on the spot for many In total, there are approximately 250 ha of hop fields in
years and which have since changed the image of the the component parts of the nominated property and the
rural landscape all year round. The constructions of hop buffer zone. 1 73
fields are made of wooden, and more recently, concrete
columns, or poles, with an approximate height of 7 metres The nomination project called Žatec and the Landscape of
located at regular intervals. Their stability is ensured on Saaz Hops is conceived to preserve this image of the local
the one hand by immersion in the ground, and on the cultural landscape and symbolic places associated with
other hand, by horizontal interconnection and anchoring the cultivation and processing of hops, and with evidence
with the help of strong wires, and more recently, steel of the impact of related processes for future generations.
ropes. The row of wires is used to anchor thinner vertical The Nomination Dossier describes a fascinating story of
wires, which are attached to them every spring during Saaz hops from planting hop bines in the fields through
an operation called stringing. This design is known as the ongoing care of their growth, the need to organise
a hop wire trellis. It is soon followed by the spring manual the harvest in a short time accurately, and ensuring the
introduction of hop bines to the wires called training. quality of hops for storage and trade. The completeness
The individual hop shoots wind up fast along the training of the "hop story" is ensured by two large component
wires during the growing season. Wires with hop plants parts of the series: the rural landscape around the hop
are then pulled off at harvest at the end of summer. villages of Stekník and Trnovany (component part 01),
Over several months (April – August), the image of the and the historical part of Žatec, with its unprecedented
landscape of Saaz hops changes dynamically and makes buildings preserved in its original form, construction and
it a unique area. Local growers improved the technology numerous details (component part 02).
of supporting structures into the unmistakable form of
the construction of the "Saaz hop wire trellis" (žatecká The geographical proximity of both component parts,
drátěnka) with an overlap all over Europe. which are connected not only by their location by the river
Ohře but also by historical paths, already documented
Hop fields are located not only in the proposed on old maps, allows us to develop ideas about how
component parts, but also within the shared buffer zone. they developed in the past. Thus, the links between the
A total of 51.5 ha are registered in the cadastre of the countryside and the town worked in mutual synergy. In
village of Stekník, 46.1 ha in the cadastre of the village the selected component part 01, hops are not only still
of Zálužice, 21.3 ha in Trnovany, 14.4 ha in Hradiště nad grown, partially processed by drying and pressing, but
Ohří, 8.8 ha in Dobříčany, 10.9 ha in Rybňany, 34.7 ha in it also contains interesting buildings. They enhance the

1 The data were taken over from the Central Institute for Supervising and Testing in Agriculture as of 20 August 2019.