This video was created as part of the "Good luck, world heritage" project funded by the European Union as part of the Free State of Saxony - Czech Republic 2014-2020 Cooperation Programme. Screenplay, direction: Michal Urban Camera: Petr Mikšíček, Philipp Nosák Drone: Petr Jakubes, Petr Mikšíček Editor: Philipp Nosák Sound mix: Michal Stolička When you look at the world map, it's just a dot, and it doesn't take up much space on a map of Europe either. At 130 kilometres long and with its highest peak, the Keilberg at just 1,244 metres, the Ore Mountains are not exactly high mountains. Nevertheless, there is no other mountain range in the world that has been as important for the development of mining and metallurgy as the Ore Mountains. This is thanks to the rich ore deposits that Mother Nature gave it. Almost all metals known in the Middle Ages and the early modern period were mined here. This mountain range owes its name to its abundance of ores - the Ore Mountains. The later Czech name "Krušné hory" is also related to mining - the verb "krušit" means "to crush ore". The exceptional universal value of the Ore Mountains The extraordinary contribution of the Ore Mountains to global mining is the reason why the Ore Mountains/Krušnohoří mining region was added to the UNESCO list of world cultural and natural heritage in 2019 as a joint heritage of the Czech Republic and the Free State of Saxony. What makes the Ore Mountains so unique that they are placed alongside monuments such as the Pyramids of Giza, the Acropolis in Athens or the historic city center of Prague? The main reasons are: Firstly, dozens of new technologies and scientific discoveries were made in the Ore Mountains, which were later successfully applied all over the world, most notably the inventions relating to the extraction of mine water and ore processing. Secondly, the Ore Mountains were the first place in history where the backward mining operations of the Middle Ages were transformed into a large-scale, centrally controlled industry with early capitalist elements, setting the course for the later industrial revolution. The state-controlled system of mining administration introduced in the Ore Mountains became a model for other mining regions on the European continent and also had a far-reaching influence on the development of specific traditions that still form the basis of the very unique Ore Mountains culture. And thirdly, the Ore Mountains are a unique example of a cross-border mining landscape, which was shaped by the mining and processing of an unusually wide range of ores - especially silver, tin, cobalt, iron and uranium - from the 12th to the 20th century. The well-preserved mining monuments above and below ground testify to the use of all the main techniques of mining and ore processing from the Middle Ages to the more recent past. 2 countries - 1 heritage - 22 components - 800 years of mining The Ore Mountains/Krušnohoří Mining Region World Heritage Site consists of 22 components which together demonstrate their outstanding universal value. Five of these components are in the Czech Ore Mountains and 17 in Saxony. These are individual World Heritage sites or ensembles of buildings and technological facilities, but mostly extensive landscape units. All of these components were selected to represent the most important areas of mining and ore processing as well as the individual mining phases in the Ore Mountains. They therefore also represent the other mining monuments in the entire region. 1. Mining cries Archaeologists have been able to prove that tin ore was mined in the Ore Mountains as early as the Bronze Age. It then took almost 3000 years until silver ore was first found in 1168 near what is now Freiberg. In the previously deserted mountains, the border between Saxony and Bohemia, the first mining rumors began, laying the foundation for the settlement of the Ore Mountains and for its future fame. Only a little later, the ore miners also uncovered the tin ore deposits in the floodplains of streams and brooks. At first only at the foot of the mountains, as was already the case in the 13th century at Krupka. The more mining progressed to higher elevations in the mountains, the more primary tin deposits were found, so that settlement now took root at ever higher elevations. The monasteries also made a great contribution, such as the Cistercian monasteries of Altzella and Osek in the eastern part of the Ore Mountains or the Cistercian monastery of Waldsassen and the Premonstratensian monastery in Teplá in the west