Nature trail "Oborou Hvězda", information board No.9 - Water in the Game-Preserve

Information board No.9 - Water in the Game-Preserve

( Czech version Voda v oboře - informace v českém jazyce)

Water and the Hvězda Game-Preserve are closely interconnected. Ever since the game-preserve has been established, a stream that is now called Světluška (Firefly) has been bringing water from the Bílá Hora fields via a hole in the wall. The historical sources claim that this hole was secured via strong oak stakes. The inflowing water was very important, especially as a drinking source for the game kept in the preserve. However, the springs were not very rich.

Ferdinand of Tirol, the second-born son of Ferdinand I and Anne of Bohemia, became a governor in the Bohemian Kingdom in 1547, and in 1548 he acquired further land in the valley of the Litovický Stream from the Liboc ecclesiae. He added this land to the existing game-preserve, establishing a meadow and a pond there, which is depicted at Kloss’ map from 1723 in the eastern part of today’s meadow and wetlands. It was a rather large pond, which however completely disappeared in time. Prague Castle archives store a budget relating to the establishment thereof dated 1728. The pond was fed via a special supply ditch from the Litovický Stream via a mill reservoir situated outside the game-preserve walls. There is also a preserved copy of a complaint regarding the local miller, which claims he only uses water for his own milling and does not allow for its flowing in the royal pond.

In 1742, J. H. Dienebier elaborated a plan of Hvězda, being in the position of a constructional writing clerk, which among other things included a small pond under the pleasure house.

Another pond, which ceased to exist during the 17th century, was located in a place marked as “Ausgetroktenes Teichl” (desiccating pond) in old maps. The remains of an embankment were still noticeable here in the early 21st century. As of today, the pond has been renewed in this place. The restoration took place in the years 2004 and 2005. The pond is fed via a supply ditch from the Světluška Stream, and water from the pond and the adjoining wetlands is drained behind the game-preserve wall in the Litovický Stream.

The designs dealing with the pond restoration within the Hvězda Game-Preserve date back to the era of the First Republic, where there is a large pond designed to cover the entire meadow by the Litovický Stream.

In 2015, the original little embankment was restored in the Světluška Stream, to retain water for the purposes of watering the parterre of the Hvězda Game-Preserve.

The Světluška Tunnel is also interesting. Originally, there was a charming hexagonal little building as the well house by the Světluška Tunnel, which was demolished prior to the construction of today’s Functionalist round building. It is the youngest tunnel of the so-called Castle water conduit, which was completed in 1930 to support the supply of potable water to Prague Castle. Supposedly, when the 1st earth-boring division was established at the Czechoslovak Army and acquired its first boring set, it was used for the first time in this location. The bores were used to locate the best place for driving the tunnel.

The tunnel is 293 m long and it is fully bricked up. Shortly after it was completed, a decision was made that it was no longer necessary to provide for independent potable water supply for Prague Castle by way of the Castle water conduit, and the area of Prague Castle was connected to the public waterworks. Water from the Světluška Stream was drained via a pipe into a small water tower at Ruzyňská Street, and it was used as a source of potable water for Ruzyně until 1974. When the Ruzyně water tower was abolished and water was no longer taken from it, water from the tunnel flew freely onto the meadow under the pleasure house. A small pond formed here together with extensive wetlands, declared as a natural territory of significant value, marked Natura 2000.

Nature trail "Oborou Hvězda":

  1. The History of the Game-Preserve
  2. Old Oak Growths
  3. Hvězda and its Surroundings
  4. Birds in the Game-Preserve
  5. The Pleasure House
  6. Personalities in the History of Hvězda
  7. Natura 2000 and wetland
  8. Beech-Wood under the Pleasure House
  9. Water in the Game-Preserve (Voda v oboře - informace v českém jazyce)
  10. The Geology of Hvězda Game-Preserve
  11. The Battle of Bílá Hora
  12. Hvězda Game-Preserve and Hunting
  13. Animals in the Game-Preserve
  14. Forest Renewal
15. září 2016
15. září 2016