Národní hřebčín Kladruby nad Labem is a state breeding facility in the Pardubice Region and the home of the Kladruber horse. The landscape for the breeding and training of ceremonial carriage horses at Kladruby nad Labem has been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 10 July 2019.[1]
History
After 1491 Kladruby nad Labem was administered by the Pernštejn family, who established a game preserve there. In 1560 the Bohemian Royal Chamber bought the Pardubice estate, including the preserve, in the name of the monarch. Emperor Maximilian II founded the stud in 1563, and on 6 March 1579 Emperor Rudolf II raised it by decree to an imperial court stud. From the early 17th century the stud, closely tied to the surrounding landscape, specialised in breeding ceremonial carriage horses of the galakarosier type for the imperial court.[1]
According to its website, the stud is among the oldest in the world and is home to the oldest original Czech breed, the Kladruber horse. It was apparently the only breed developed for the ceremonial purposes of ruling courts, and the breeding tradition reaches back at least to the 14th century.[2] The Habsburgs operated the stud for roughly three hundred years.[3]
Landscape
The landscape lies in the central Elbe region in the Elbe Lowland and includes the municipalities of Kladruby nad Labem, Selmice and Semín. Fields, meadows, fenced pastures, a landscape park, forests, buildings and farmsteads developed with horse breeding and training in mind.[3] The three main axes of the landscape cross at the entrance to the monumental stables, not at the imperial palace, which stands off to the side behind a line of trees. The axes are joined by a grid of pastures bounded by tree-lined rows and by the Mošnice landscape park. An important part is the water system, which was improved over the centuries.[3] The historic farmsteads in the area are still in operation today.[1]
Protection and UNESCO inscription
In 1995 the stud with its core herd of black and white Kladruber horses was declared a cultural monument, and in 2002 a national cultural monument. It was placed on the national tentative list on 29 May 2007. A management plan was drawn up in 2010, and on 16 December 2015 the stud was declared the Kladrubské Polabí heritage zone. Since 1 May 2016 the landscape has been a Site of Community Importance in the Natura 2000 network.[1]
The most intensive preparation of the nomination began in 2015, and the complete documentation was produced between 2016 and 2019. It was submitted in Paris on 29 January 2018, and the evaluation mission visited the area on 30 and 31 August 2018. The inscription was decided by the World Heritage Committee at its 43rd session in Baku, Azerbaijan, on 10 July 2019.[1]