It’s probably already too late, but the medieval village of Vlkolinek, Slovakia is asking to be taken off the UNESCO World Heritage Site list it’s been on since 1993.
The problem, as local residents see it, is that they’re too small for the attention the listing has brought them. With over 100,000 visitors, they’re feeling overwhelmed; one resident told a reporter that UNESCO status “has turned us into a tourist ‘zoo’. This supposed honor has become not just a burden – but a living nightmare.
The village’s 45 buildings, mainly intact log-built in medieval times, are home to only about 20 remaining residents—all members of four families. Villagers say that tourists often walk through their private gardens and take pictures through their windows.
And while the appearance of the buildings is protected under regulations, the residents say the protections also make life difficult. Anton Sabucha, the oldest resident, told a Slovak newspaper “Make sure they remove us from Unesco, we would live better.Due to strict regulations, we cannot raise pets and cultivate crops as we used to.”
Image: Jozef Kotulič/Wikimedia Commons
