“We are still doing well on the ground to convince people to take care of the preservation of cultural monuments”

Due to the protection of cultural heritage, property owners in the old city center and also in the areas of known important sites of former Roman Petovia face additional costs and certain problems during renovations and construction interventions. The Monument Protection Service, on the other hand, emphasizes the importance of heritage protection for the development of cultural tourism.

On the tribune, city councillors, representatives of the city municipality, municipal institutes and citizens warned that in addition to the need to protect cultural heritage, it is also necessary to understand the fact that times are changing, and people’s needs are different than they were thousands of years ago.

“Although we protect heritage, we still have to keep up with the times,” said the city councilman Alen Iljevec, who pointed out the imposition of some unreasonable conditions. Property owners are also dissatisfied with the ban on the use of new building materials in building renovations, as they are not allowed to use new insulating materials, the type of windows, doors and roofing is prescribed. Former councilor Janez Rozmarin reminded of the problems of the residents along Mariborska cesta, where they are almost not allowed to dig due to archaeological remains, but if they decide to do so, any investment in a gas pipeline, telecommunications or optical network is cheaper than the cost of archaeological research.

Mayor: The municipality has nowhere to take the money for thisThe mayor also agreed to this Nuška Gajšek, who does not understand the insistence on archaeological excavations on the mentioned road, where there have already been some excavations in the past and all the communal infrastructure already exists. She stated that archeology alone on the 1.7 kilometer long section where they plan to build a meteor channel would cost them around 3.7 million euros, and the work would take as long as two years. “The municipality has nowhere to take this money, and two years of digging would make everyday life difficult for the residents,” she emphasized.

Archaeologist Andrej Magdic from the Maribor branch of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage said that very important archaeological remains are located there. Among other things, the remains of the former luxury buildings of officials of the Roman Empire were discovered. According to him, this was already known at the end of the 19th century, but after the end of the Second World War, in Ptuj, they decided to change the land from agricultural to buildable areas.

According to the norms of civilization that apply in the EU, it is forbidden to destroy archaeological finds“So the archaeological site was there earlier, before people built houses in this area, so according to the protection regime and some civilizational norm that applies in the EU, it is forbidden to destroy archaeological finds. If they are already removed for public “ he said.

The head of the Maribor branch emphasized that ZVKD is a professional institution that only helps in the protection of cultural heritage, while legislation and decrees are written by others Lucky Steinbacher. He reminded that the current municipal decree, which regulates the mentioned issue, dates back to 1989, and that the expert basis for the renewal of the decree prepared in 2006 ended up in drawers, while at least 50 of the 80 municipalities covered by the Maribor branch , the decrees have already been renewed with more modern protection regimes.

Mayor Gajšek believes that this is because the fear that the new decree will further tighten the conditions and that it will be even more difficult to interfere with the facilities has become established. Both confirmed that at the last meeting they only agreed to prepare new professional bases, since things have changed significantly since 2006, when they were preparing the draft.

“We expect the document to be prepared within a year. I urge the owners to allow us to inspect the buildings, as this is the only way we can make a comprehensive decision as to whether it is a cultural monument. Buildings that have this status can apply for tenders from the Ministry of Culture, when are embarking on restoration,” said Stajbacher. At the same time, he added that the problem of lack of money always arises during renovations.

According to him, the penultimate call provided for only six million euros for two years for the entire country, and this year’s is 4.5 million euros. “There is not much we can do with this, and I can say that we are still doing well on the ground to convince people to take care of the preservation of cultural monuments,” he said, pointing out that even this money was not fully utilized, as the investors could not guarantee their share.

Everything is ready for the renovation of the town hallThe mayor said that the municipality also faces many challenges. For the first time, European funds for cultural heritage will also be available, with which the municipality hopes to restore the town hall, which is a monument of national importance and, due to its current state, requires rapid restoration. The municipality has already received a building permit for the mentioned project, it will be co-financed from CTN funds, and it is estimated at two million euros.

It is necessary to provide a system resource for the restoration of cultural monuments“Unfortunately, the state does not allocate enough money for such projects, so we will call on the authorities to providing a system resource not only for the maintenance, but also for the restoration of cultural monuments. As soon as possible, we should talk about a fund of money that will be higher than 30 million euros annually,” emphasizes the mayor.