Every year millions of tourists from Germany visit Prague's Old Town. Now Unesco has warned of acute threats to the world heritage status of the historic city center.
In a letter of fire published on Thursday, the organization called on the Czech state and the city administration to respond to negative developments "promptly and decisively".
- Particularly in the criticism are plans for skyscrapers in the so-called buffer zone, which could affect the city panorama. Investors exerted strong pressure to maximize their profits from office and residential space, the report said.
- Worrying is a planned new construction law , which would shorten the approval times dramatically. Appraisals of the Denkmalschutzamt should then no longer be binding for the decision-making process.
- Other criticisms concern the lack of traffic calming ,
- the progressive decline of the unused Vysehrad railway station from 1904
- and the increasing number of tourist boats on the Vltava .
The Social Democratic Culture Minister Lubomir Zaoralek said that they were talking to Unesco. The historical center of Prague has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1992. The protection zone covers an area of almost 8.7 square kilometers.
Pandas and soap bubbles prohibited
At the same time, the city administration is mobilizing against street artists who are moving through the center in huge panda, gorilla and polar bear costumes . A new regulation now concretely prohibits "appearances in animal disguises" and generally all costumes that "go beyond the proportions of an adult human being".
Critics have long considered the animal disguises unsuitable in the historic setting of the UNESCO World Heritage City. Even those who create huge bubbles for the amusement of tourists, will now be banned. The soap smear was dangerous for pedestrians, it was said to justify.
Michael Heitmann / dpa
Pandas and Polar Bears prohibited: Inappropriate for World Heritage backdrop
After the Czech capital abolished all restrictions on street artists a few years ago, the phenomenon quickly erupted. Street art is now completely prohibited again in cemeteries and children's playgrounds as well as in front of schools, churches and hospitals. Popular were the disguises of tourists who made selfies with the "human bears". '
Last year, around 6.7 million foreign overnight guests came to Prague. While the number of tourists has increased for decades, the number of inhabitants of the first inner city district has fallen since 1991 from more than 41,000 to nearly 29,500 people.
