| Basic Information about the Iron Mountains |
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- Location, Relief, Climate
- Geological Composition
- Waters
- - People, Architecture, History - Nature - Recreation and Tourism - Getting There - |
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Location, Relief, Climate In the Central Europe, east of Germany, in the Czech republic, about 60 miles (100 km) east of Prague and 12 miles (2O km) south of Pardubice - the Iron Mountains form the northwest promontory of the Czech-Moravian Uplands. The range falls very slowly into the lowland in the north 
while in the south the ridge rapidly rises above the River Doubrava valley.
The Iron Mountains are very low. In fact, it is the highland with an excessive name...but it doesn't reduce the beauty of this landscape full of woods,
hills, streams, meadows, fields and small villages with folk architecture.
The altitude of the main ridge rise slowly from the northwest (Oklika hill near Chvaletice - 1,004 feet, Krkanka hill near Ronov - 1,857 feet (567 m))
to the southeast (Vestec hill near Libice - 2,191 feet (668 m) above the sea level).
Inside this ridge (near Tremosnice) we can find two expressive glens (Lovetinska and Hedvikovska) with nice rocks.
Also through this ridge and its camber (almost 1,000 feet) against the surrounding lowland, the hills are called mountains. The name Iron Mountains - Montes Ferrei - firstly appeared already in the Zbraslavska chronicle in 13th century.
The Iron Mountains take almost 260 square miles (600 square km) at average elevation about 1,475 feet (450 m) above the sea level. The climate depends especially on altitude. The higher and colder is the eastern part where the year average temperature reaches only about 43°F (6°C). The snow cover these part of the Iron Mountains for about 50-100 days in winter with average 1,5 feet (45 cm) high layer. The maximum temperature 94,8°F (34,9°C) was measured in 1957 in Hermanuv Mestec. The minimum temperature -38°F (-38,9°C) was measured in 1929 near Rvacov. |
Geological Composition
Geologically the Iron Mountains are created from two parts - the lower (Chvaleticka) upland in the northwest and the higher (Secska) upland in the centre and in the east.
The Iron Mountains forming began probably already 2,500,000,000 years ago.
The unique geological composition of the Iron Mountains reflects almost all of the geological periods. |
Waters
You can find two main rivers there: the River Chrudimka and the River Doubrava. Both are very nice and have several attractive dams.The most important is the River Chrudimka. It is about 67 miles (108 km) long. There are many dams (Hamry, Sec, Sec II, Krizanovice, Pracov) built there. The largest dam is Sec (built in 1925-1934) taking 220 ha. Its dike is 138 feet (42 m) high and 541 feet (165 m) long and it is used for recreation and electricity production. 
The River Chrudimka leaves the Iron Mountains near Slatinany, continuing through Chrudim it flows into the River Elbe in Pardubice.
The main Iron Mountain's ridge is copied by the River Doubrava. It is about 56 miles (90 km) long and
there is a beautiful stone dam (built in 1913) in Parizov there.A lot of small ponds and streams add to the landscape's beauty. |
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People, Architecture, History
The castle ruins, small villages with folk architecture, small timbered houses, small chapels and churches, folk customs and crafts...
all of these you can see in the Iron Mountains as a reminder of those, who lived there dozens and hundreds of years ago.
There are also celtic remains near Nasavrky dated 2 centuries B.C.But you can see also dams, steel towers, quarries and new houses as a reminder of people still living there. 
Current population density in the Iron Mountains is about 64 inhibatants per square km with the only one town reaching over 10.000 inhabitants. If you would like to see what was the ordinary life of local people some centuries ago you can visit The Highlands Folk Architecture Skansen near Hlinsko. 
You can feel the past all around also thanks to many ruins of old castles here (Lichnice, Oheb, Vildstejn, Rabstejnek, Zumberk, Stradov, Rozpakov) and
many old memorable trees. The oldest oak in Podhradi is over 700 years old with 13 m in circumference.
Another outstanding tree you can find in Klokočov. It is almost 1,000 years old linden.From the modern sights you can find 613 feet (187 m) tall TV transmitter near Krasne from 1960, former lime plant near Tremosnice, many dams, great limestone quarry near Prachovice. |
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Nature In recognition of the Iron Mountains' unique natural quality, large part of them was designated as a protected area in 1991. 
All the Iron Mountains are richly covered by green vegetation - woods, meadows, pastures and fields.
Current woods composition differs from the original one which you can find only in protected areas currently. Formerly blended woods were replaced by coniferous ones (with predominance of spruce). In the past by regime strongly promoted intensive farming is beeing changed by better way of farming with respect to the environment. Now, not only spruces, but also beeches, birches, larches, firs, alders, ashes, oaks and pine trees are planted here. There is also some vegetation left to spontaneous evolution in special reservations. 
Over 1,200 species of plants, 75 species of molucs, over 280 species of verterbrates add to the Iron Mountain's diversity of life. From plants there is also a special specie of willow which you can find only in two places in the Czech Republic growing there. |
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Recreation and Tourism The Iron Mountains today are a hiker's and biker'r paradise with many kilometres of well marked trails. 
In winter you can do also cross-country skiing and limited downhill skiing especially in the estern (higher and colder) part.
In summer you can enjoy swimming in a lot of ponds and beautiful small inundated quarries.
Acomodation capacity is quite good including small lodging houses, private hotels, big hotels and camping site.
You can find some of hotel facilities in the pages main menu: accomodation.
If the visibility is good you can see also the Czech Republic's highest mountains - the Giant Mountains - with the main croak rising over5,250 feet (1600 m).
There are also some traditional sport events like over 60 miles (100 km) long biker's race "Bikemarathon Manitou Zelezné hory" in the Iron Mountains. Motosport is represented by several motocross races including the Europian Championships near Tremosnice. |
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Getting There Plane The nearest major airport in Pardubice is about 12 miles (20 km) north of the Iron Mountains, Prague airport is about 60 miles (100 km) eastward. Car There is very dense road network here, so you can get almost anywhere by car. From Prague: D11 highway to E 39 - Podebrady, then direction Kolin, Caslav, Sec, Hlinsko. From Brno: D1 highway to E 162 - Velka Bites, then by route 37 via Zdar nad Sazavou to Zdirec nad Doubravou, then by route 34 to Hlinsko. Public Transportation You can get almost anywhere by bus, train stations in the Iron Mountains are as follows: Prachovice and Tremosnice in the central part, Hlinsko and Skutec in the eastern part, Zabori nad Labem and Tynec nad Labem in the western part. |
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