Erzgebirge
We are situated on the border with Germany under the highest mountain of the Ore Mountains – Klínovec. We are an important summer and winter tourist resort and our territory includes the Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří mining region, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There are many historical monuments in our surroundings and a beautiful diverse mountain nature that we value and protect.
The Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří mining region, as the official name of the joint Czech-German nomination goes, consists of 22 components, 17 of which are located in Saxony and five in the Czech Erzgebirge. The Czech part is represented by the Jáchymov Mining Landscape, the Abertamy – Boží Dar – Horní Blatná Mining Landscape, the Red Tower of Death, the Krupka Mining Landscape and the Mědník Mining Landscape. Together, these components illustrate the enormous influence that mining and ore processing on both sides of the mountains had on the development of mining and metallurgy throughout the world.
For the Czech Republic, the confirmation of the exceptional global value of the Ore Mountains marks the first successful inscription on the World Heritage List in 16 years. The last time Trebic – the Jewish Quarter and the Basilica of St. Procopius – was inscribed on this prestigious list was in 2003.
The justification for the world value of the Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří mining region is based, among other things, on the significant inventions and innovations in mining and metallurgical technology that were successfully spread from the Erzgebirge to the whole of Europe and overseas, especially in the 16th century, but also later on, and on the global importance of the Erzgebirge for the development of mining legislation, administration and education, as well as monetary systems. This is also illustrated by the story of the Jáchymov thaler, which evolved into a pan-European currency for more than 300 years and gave its name to the American dollar. More than 800 years of almost continuous mining and ore processing have created a unique mining landscape in the Ore Mountains with unique monuments above and below ground and a dense network of specific mining towns that is unparalleled in the world. These monuments document the mining and processing of various ores in all periods from the 12th to the 20th century, especially silver, tin, cobalt, iron and, most recently, uranium ores.
