Historic Slovak Village calls for Unesco Status to be revoked after Tourist Influx
Residents of Vlkolínec, a village in Slovakia, have called for its Unesco World Heritage status to be revoked after an overwhelming influx of tourists.
Vlkolínec, an intact medieval village of 45 painted buildings in the Carpathian mountains, has been listed as Unesco World Heritage Site since 1993.
Residents of Vlkolínec are calling for its removal from the UNESCO World Heritage List saying that what is normally regarded as a prestigious status has turned their home into a “dead open-air museum”, according to the Slovak newspaper Denník N.
When Vlkolínec was inscribed on the UNESCO list in 1993, one key condition applied: it had to remain a living village, not a museum with residents as “exhibits”. Three decades later, locals argue that this promise has been broken.
Around 100,000 tourists visit Vlkolínec every year, they behave as if they are entering a folk museum – wandering into courtyards, peeping through windows and even peering into the kitchens of houses where people actually live. “We would live better if UNESCO crossed us off the list,” says 67-year-old Anton Sabucha, the village’s oldest permanent resident. “Because of strict regulations, we can’t keep animals or farm small plots of land the way we used to.” Sabucha has installed barriers and signs reading 'Private property' and 'No photography'. “It didn’t help,” he adds
According to heritage expert Miloš Dudáš, Vlkolínec was listed not only for its wooden architecture, but because it was a functioning settlement. “It was not an empty or ‘dead’ open-air museum,” he told the Slovak daily, stressing that everyday life was a decisive factor in the nomination. That reality, Dudáš argues, is now disappearing. “The inscription brought honour and prestige, but also problems,” he said, pointing to the dramatic rise in tourism, the loss of privacy and the transformation of permanent homes into weekend cottages.
Vlkolínec remains one of only three similarly preserved rural settlements in Central Europe, alongside sites in Hungary and the Czech Republic. Removing it from the UNESCO list would require a decision by the state and by UNESCO – a rare and politically sensitive step.
For now, the village stays on the list, even as the life that once justified its inscription slowly fades.