Page 96 - UNESCO_Zatec_2021_A4

2.b HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT

The rich history of Žatec and the Landscape of Saaz Hops the end of the 10 century, according to written records,
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has been competently documented through archives, hops were exported from Bohemia to cities on the Baltic
professional literature, and cartographic sources. The Sea, Bavaria, and Trieste.
local variety of aromatic hops has been sought-after, as
a key ingredient for beer production, for centuries up The development of monastic and burgher breweries
to the present day. As a result, the town and its wider in Central Europe in the 12 and 13 centuries caused
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surroundings have adapted to this specific agricultural a massive demand for hops on the market. Numerous
sector by developing specific economic structures aimed archaeological finds of hop and cereal remain from
at growing, processing, and trading in hops. older settlements, and the newly established royal
towns in the Bohemian (Czech) Kingdom also date
The following text will gradually take the reader through from this period. At this time, the inhabitants of the
more than a thousand years of history; history that Žatec basin began to take advantage of the local
shaped the countryside and the town of Žatec itself. The natural conditions for the cultivation of quality hops
town and the landscape of the immediate surroundings and the convenient position of trade crossroads of
became an important extensive European hop growing both the domestic roads and waterways. Contrary to
metropolis, especially in the 19 century, and played other European areas, with hop cultivation for their
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a crucial role in the international hop trade. But let’s not own local needs, people from Žatec started to grow
get ahead of ourselves. hops in greater amounts than they needed to sell it to
2. Description 2.b1 EARLY HISTORY OF HOP GROWING The decisive growth of hop production took place in
distant regions as early as the Middle Ages.

AND HOP TRADING
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Bohemia during the 12 and 14 centuries. In 1306,
the word "hop field" is documented in written sources.
Hops have been documented for centuries within the
Saaz hop growing region since the early Middle Ages. Cultivation was already at a high level, and the quality of
Bohemian hops was highly rated. Hop growing became
German literature from the beginning of the 20 century an essential part of agricultural production.
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96 states that German brewers primarily used hops from
Bohemia in the 10 and 11 centuries. The first written The Emperor Charles IV (rule 1346–1378) supported
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proof of the sale of Saaz hops dates back to 1088. This the establishment of hop fields, especially due to the
is a document of the Vyšehrad Chapter regarding the valuable financial benefit that flowed from hop exports
proceeds from the sale of hops from a yard in Žatec. At into the royal treasury, and he regulated the export of

The oldest depiction of hops from around 1300, from the book Saské zrcadlo (The Saxon Mirror)