Department of Geomatics

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Vltava II – transformations of the historical landscape, the river as a link and a barrier

Changes in the landscape and its use, and the changes in human activities that are related to these changes, are crucial for understanding the historical landscape around the Vltava River. We are building on the previous NAKI II project, which revealed a large number of additional topics that had not been addressed before.

RESEARCHER

Jiří Cajthaml

TIME PERIOD

1.3.2023 – 31.12.2027

Project characteristics

The project will mainly address the river's function as a link (transport of people and raw materials), but also as a barrier (the need for fords, ferries, bridges). Both functions have greatly influenced human activities and exploitation of the cultural landscape along the river. We plan to use a number of memory institutions (archives, museums, libraries) and local sources in the form of chronicles or testimonies of witnesses to address the project. The processing of the partial information thus obtained, and especially its interpretation, will provide new information and insights into the changes in the historical landscape and its exploitation. The main aim of the project is to discuss and present the changes in the functions of the Vltava River and related activities by analysing a large amount of archival material (documents, maps, plans, photographs) and combining and digitising them to build on the existing results of the previous project. Using new technologies, the preservation, documentation and accessibility of a large amount of information about the history of the Vltava, including its cultural heritage, will be continued. The project will act in the role of transferring historical information to education by modern cartographic methods, to preserve national memory, to shape national identity and culture in the broadest, multicultural sense, and to form the historical consciousness of society.