Beautiful stallion back
The beautiful stallion back (Czech: Hřebečovský hřbet ) is an elongated, narrow stratum in the Svitavská pahorkatina in the east of the Czech Republic , between the towns of Svitavy and Moravská Třebová . The 25 km long and almost constant 600 m nm high step cuts through the Schönhengstgau , formerly the largest Sudeten-German language island, in north-south direction , and gave this historical landscape its name.
The step lies on the eastern edge of the Bohemian Tableland and consists of Cretaceous sedimentary rocks. In the west the ridge rises gradually, the eastern end is formed by steep slopes that rise up to 200 meters above the surrounding landscape. The highest peaks from south to north are the Roh (660 m nm), the Hřebcov (633 m nm), the Strážný vrch (610 m nm) and the Mladějovský vrch (617 m nm). In the south the step extends to the municipality of Pohledy , in the north the Schönhengster ridge ends at Třebovice , where the lowest point of the Elbe-Danube watershed is located on the Třebovické sedlo saddle at 438 m nm . The European road E 442 from Hradec Králové to Olomouc cuts its back near the settlement of Hřebec, a district of Koclířov - in the past a feared accident site, especially in winter, which can now be crossed through a tunnel.
Mining was carried out on the Schönhengster ridge since 1770. The most important raw material was initially coal , which, however, was qualitatively inferior to the hard coal from Ostrava . In the 19th century, the mining of refractory clay and the production of tiles, ceramics and chamottes began . In 1945, 104 ovens were in operation on the Schönhengster back, which processed the extracted clay on the spot. The last shaft was closed in 1991 for economic reasons.
After the last tunnels have been closed, the Schönhengster back is mainly used by tourists. The 60 cm narrow-gauge railway between Mladějov na Moravě and Hřebec continues to be operated as a museum railway ; in winter the back is criss-crossed by cross-country trails . Part of the area is under nature protection: the southern part with its beech forests has been designated as the Rohová nature reserve on 296.93 hectares since 1998 , a smaller natural monument called Pod Skalou has been protecting the local population of the European yew tree on 21.10 hectares since 1990 . For safety reasons, the area above the former mines is not open to the public.
Web links
- Description of the beautiful stallion back in Czech:
- www.montanya.org - Description and history of the mines
- cestovani.idnes.cz - description of the trails
- www.turistika.cz - description of the ridge and nature reserves
Coordinates: 49 ° 45 ′ 52 ″ N , 16 ° 35 ′ 2 ″ E