Žatec and the Landscape of Saaz Hops

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The Cultural Landscape of Žatec and Saaz Hops: A UNESCO World Heritage Site

The picturesque town of Žatec, nestled along the banks of the Ohře River in the Czech Republic, boasts a rich history deeply intertwined with the cultivation and trade of one of the world's most esteemed hop varieties – Saaz hops. This unique cultural landscape, recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 2023, offers a captivating glimpse into the evolution of hop farming, processing, and trading practices spanning seven centuries.

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UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site

This cultural landscape has been shaped for centuries by the living tradition of cultivating and trading the world’s most renowned hop variety, used in beer production around the globe. The property includes particularly fertile hop fields near the river Ohře that have been farmed continuously for hundreds of years, as well as historic villages and buildings used for processing hops. The urban component of the property is represented by the medieval centre of Žatec with its southern extension, known as the “Prague Suburb” (Pražské předměstí) including numerous specific 19th to 20th-century industrial structures. Together, these illustrate the evolution of the agro-industrial processes and socio-economic system of growing, drying, certifying, and trading hops from the Late Middle Ages to the present.

Encyclopedia Record: Žatec

Žatec is a town in Louny District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 19,000 inhabitants. It lies on the Ohře River. Žatec is famous for an over-700-year-long tradition of growing Saaz noble hops used by several breweries. Žatec and the Landscape of Saaz Hops was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2023. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument reservation and partly also as an urban monument zone.

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