Photo: © Václav Mach.
An ode to hops. In 2023, the Czech town of Žatec and the Žatec hop landscape were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List
In autumn 2023, the World Heritage Committee inscribed the Czech town of Žatec and the Žatec hop landscape on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
This cultural landscape has been shaped over many centuries by the preserved traditions of cultivation and trade in the world’s most famous hop variety for beer production.
Material prepared by: Boris Kogut.
The area includes particularly fertile hop fields near the Ohře River, which have been cultivated continuously for hundreds of years, as well as historic villages and buildings inextricably linked to the processing of hops.
The urban elements of the area include the medieval centre of Žatec and its industrial part from the 19th and 20th centuries, known as Pražské předměstí.
Together they illustrate the development of agro-industrial processes and the socioeconomic system of hop growing, drying, certification and trade from the late Middle Ages to the present day.
Let’s talk more about the fine yellowish powder of the plant Humulus Lupulus, which belongs to the stinging nettle family (Urticaceae) and the hemp family (Cannabaceae).
Botanists have come up with such a complex name for the wonderful Czech hop, which grows to a height of five metres and whose cones are worth their weight in gold. «Green gold» is undoubtedly the most appropriate name for hops.
Hops are mainly used in medicine and the food industry. In traditional medicine, the essential oil of hops is known for its anaesthetic, antiseptic and sedative properties. Many sources refer to hops as a natural antibiotic.
Hops are a must for the Czech Republic: what would we be drinking with our national dish - pork with dumplings and cabbage - if someone in the distant past hadn’t discovered that hops could be used to brew a divine drink - beer? Many foreigners, when asked what they like in our country, would say the same thing: beer.
Photo: © www.zatec-and-the-landscape-of-saaz-hops.com
In the 90s of the 19th century, Žatec hops made a profit equivalent to the budget of the entire Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. During the First Republic - in 1924 - hops once again saved the state budget from bankruptcy.
It is also no secret that the richest brides in Bohemia lived in Louny, Rakovník, Žatec, Roudnice and their surroundings, and grooms came here in large numbers.
Hop-growing in Bohemia began to develop actively in the 15th and 16th centuries, and even then the Žatec region, with its red, iron-rich soil, played a key role in this area of agriculture.
But it’s not just about the soil. Success in hop cultivation depends above all on the skills and knowledge of the people involved. You have to be born a hop-grower. The people of Žatec
and the surrounding area have been growing hops for more than a thousand years.
After reading the article about hops, it is not enough to watch the first Czechoslovak musical from 1964, «The Hop Pickers», which will take you back to the life of young people in socialist Czechoslovakia. At that time, young people from various educational institutions were obliged to participate in the hop harvest, regardless of their age.
The young helpers joined so-called hop brigades and were happy to go on such trips, not only to work and have fun - some of them even managed to meet their love, as the first Czechoslovak musical confirms.
Photo: © Václav Mach.