Irrigation – rediscovered heritage, its documentation, popularisation and protection based on the example of historical meadow irrigation systems
Irrigation systems were built and have operated mostly as part of a larger or
smaller functional complexes. Their significance, also from the point of view
from potential heritage protection, thus increases with the identification and
documentation not only of solitary structures but, in particular, of entire systems / functional complexes with descriptions of interrelationships between them. Independent objects or structures do not need to be particularly exceptional, although their involvement in the wider functional complex can create a uniquely undertaken solution. In the field of water management, criteria such as typological value, value of technological flow, authenticity of form and function, value of technological and systemic links with an overlap to agriculture and industry are especially important. This article provides information on possibilities of using traditional methods of historical and archive research and documentation of localities, and at the same time using modern tools for systems over a more extensive area, including methods of digitisation and processing of documentation.
