Page 20 - UNESCO_Zatec_MP_2021

Every year many experts from all over the world gather at the site to participate in specialised events, conferences
and workshops the organisation of which has a long tradition. The celebration of the living intangible heritage of hops
in the nominated landscape is reflected in the public and social events associated with the annual cycle of hop growing,
seasonal festivities, local customs, rituals and festivals closely linked with hops and strengthening the identity of Žatec,
its residents, and the surrounding hop growing landscape.

Criterion (iv)
The Property is an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape
which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history.
Žatec and the Landscape of Saaz Hops is an outstanding example of a monoculture landscape associated with hop
growing and processing both in the rural and urban environment. Throughout the time various methods of hop drying,
preservation, packaging, quality certification and breeding were developed in this specific hop growing region, as well
as outstanding examples of buildings, architectural and technological ensembles and productive landscape.

The visual quality of the rural landscape is particularly defined by hop fields with their typical trellises consisting
of poles and wires, rural settlements with preserved farm buildings and barns where hops were dried and stored,
a residence of the local landlord which is a dominant landmark in the landscape as it rises above the preserved historic
A. BASIC INFORMATIONS on activities related to processing, certification of origin and quality of hops as well as international trade which first
hop fields which are still in use. The natural centre of this hop growing landscape is the town of Žatec which developed
in a close relationship with the hop growing culture and is the only comprehensively preserved urban complex focused

started across Europe and later spread overseas.

Concentration and authenticity of municipal warehouses, hop drying kilns, sulphurisation chambers, hop packaging
and certification facilities, together with the town’s exceptional skyline, accentuated by the vertical dominants of the
hop drying kilns and sulphuring chambers tall chimneys and, in the rural landscape, complemented by the hop fields
trellises and buildings related to hop growing, harvesting, processing and storage, all this makes the nominated
property unique as it does not exist in the same quality elsewhere in the world.

Criterion (v)
The Property is an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative
of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under
20 the impact of irreversible change.
Žatec and the Landscape of Saaz Hops is an outstanding example of a continuous, never interrupted and, to date,
traditional use of an agricultural landscape with traditional human settlements where the main focus is on growing
of a crop with special requirements for climate, cultivation and processing. The nominated property is authentic
evidence of continual interactions between humans and their environment and a well-preserved example of the
European cultural tradition in which hops, as an attractive complementary crop in the local farming, have been widely
used in beer brewing since medieval times. Hop cultivation on the site of the nominated property also largely depends
on the knowledge and experience of the hop growers related to the climate and natural conditions, breeding and
cultivation and processing methods for centuries transferred and improved from generation to generation.

The technical knowhow and skills were further developed and improved on the site of the property from where they
spread under the name of the hop growing centre – Saaz (Žatec). This had also a crucial impact on the appearance
of the Saaz landscape which is well demonstrated by the hop fields with the fixed structure of the trellis, usually made
of wooden poles and wires and every year complemented by hop strings, which are guiding wires providing support
to the twining hop bines. On the basis of the local empirical knowledge, this structure developed into a specific design
of Saaz hop wire trellis called "žatecká drátěnka" which is now used in many other hop growing regions around the
world. Typical hop drying kilns and other hop growing facilities were built in the rural area and the processing of hops
impacted the overall appearance of Žatec where the architecture of residential buildings as well as industrial facilities,
educational institutions and amenity centres designed for different groups of local residents associated with the hop
growing business is unmistakable.

STATEMENT OF INTEGRITY
The nomination Žatec and the Landscape of Saaz Hops is a very well preserved site which, within its boundaries,
documents the entire "hop cycle", as well as all significant attributes associated with its growing and processing.

The productive character of the hop growing landscape with specific climate conditions is still fully reflected in the
preserved functional integrity of its composition as well as in its attributes the most distinctive of which are the following
ones: hop fields situated near the river, sets of functionally diverse buildings used for drying, sulphurisation, packaging,
certification and storage of hops as well as the safeguarding of traditional knowledge of hop growing and processing
developed over the centuries. The transport network based on the historic roads also underlines the integrity of the
property as it has enabled access to the hop fields and facilitated the export of hops.