Event Title
Horse As a Cultural Heritage: Three Case Studies from Czechia and Greece
Session
Session 5: A Heritage of Horses
Location
Mary Tefft White Cultural Center, University Library
Start Date
30-9-2023 11:00 AM
End Date
30-9-2023 12:30 PM
Description
People shape horses through their needs and demands but also through their awareness and understanding of themselves and their environment. The horse populations encode the history of the region and the environmental circumstances. The horse is a cultural animal, a kind of palimpsest. It is, therefore, a part of cultural heritage. The paper analyzes how this can be dealt with using three examples.
- The oldest stud in Central Europe in Kladruby nad Labem, which dated back to the Middle Ages and was confirmed as an imperial stud in 1579, is an excellent example. In 2019, the Kladruber horse, stud facilities, and horse-formed landscape were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Furthermore, today, the equestrian culture and breeding of traditional horses are continually developing.
- On the other hand, a tragic example is the fate of the stud in Napajedla (Czech Republic), which was founded at the beginning of the 19th century by the Greek horseman Aristidis Baltazi and became for a long time the center for the breeding of English thoroughbreds in central Europe. Neither the interest of the heritage experts nor of the breeders and equestrians, as well as the interest of the public, could not prevent the stud owners from closing the stud after more than 200 years of its existence and starting to build commercial facilities on the pastures and in the stables.
- The most recent example is the Cretan horse, bred in equestrian and hippologically modest conditions on a relatively isolated island. Today, this particular horse is practically on the verge of extinction. The problem of revitalizing breeding is very complex.
The paper aims to answer why traditional and historic breeds must be protected and developed.
Recommended Citation
Klontza, Vera, "Horse As a Cultural Heritage: Three Case Studies from Czechia and Greece" (2023). Equine History Collective Conference. 5.
https://docs.rwu.edu/equinehistory-conference/2023/saturday/5
Horse As a Cultural Heritage: Three Case Studies from Czechia and Greece
Mary Tefft White Cultural Center, University Library
People shape horses through their needs and demands but also through their awareness and understanding of themselves and their environment. The horse populations encode the history of the region and the environmental circumstances. The horse is a cultural animal, a kind of palimpsest. It is, therefore, a part of cultural heritage. The paper analyzes how this can be dealt with using three examples.
- The oldest stud in Central Europe in Kladruby nad Labem, which dated back to the Middle Ages and was confirmed as an imperial stud in 1579, is an excellent example. In 2019, the Kladruber horse, stud facilities, and horse-formed landscape were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Furthermore, today, the equestrian culture and breeding of traditional horses are continually developing.
- On the other hand, a tragic example is the fate of the stud in Napajedla (Czech Republic), which was founded at the beginning of the 19th century by the Greek horseman Aristidis Baltazi and became for a long time the center for the breeding of English thoroughbreds in central Europe. Neither the interest of the heritage experts nor of the breeders and equestrians, as well as the interest of the public, could not prevent the stud owners from closing the stud after more than 200 years of its existence and starting to build commercial facilities on the pastures and in the stables.
- The most recent example is the Cretan horse, bred in equestrian and hippologically modest conditions on a relatively isolated island. Today, this particular horse is practically on the verge of extinction. The problem of revitalizing breeding is very complex.
The paper aims to answer why traditional and historic breeds must be protected and developed.
