Úhošť () is a hill and a national nature reserve in the

Ústí nad Labem Region Ústí nad Labem Region or Ústecký Region () is an Regions of the Czech Republic, administrative unit () of the Czech Republic, located in the north-western part of the historical land of Bohemia, and named after the capital, Ústí nad Labem. I ...

of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

. It lies in the Doupov Mountains. The hill reaches the elevation of . It is also a place where might have occurred the Battle of Wogastisburg in 631 AD.

Geography

Úhošť is located in the Doupov Mountains in the municipal territory of

Kadaň Kadaň (; ) is a town in Chomutov District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 18,000 inhabitants. It lies on the banks of the Ohře river. Kadaň is a tourist centre with highlights being the Franciscan Monastery in ...

, between the villages Brodce and Pokutice (parts of Kadaň). The hill is a

mesa A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge, or hill, bounded from all sides by steep escarpments and standing distinctly above a surrounding plain. Mesas consist of flat-lying soft sedimentary rocks, such as shales, capped by a ...

with an area of ; the plateau at the top has an area of . It has been protected as a national nature reserve since 1974. The national nature reserve has an area of and a negligible area of the reserve lies also in the territory of

Klášterec nad Ohří Klášterec nad Ohří (; ) is a town in Chomutov District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 14,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#M ...

Nature

The hill arose in connection with the

volcanic A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often fo ...

activity thad created all the Doupov Mountains. It is thus mainly formed by

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

. In terms of plants, the area is very diverse. There are 1,000 plant species out of 3,000 recorded in the Czech Republic in the nature reserve. The slopes are covered with natural forest and steppe phytocoenose with such plants as hepaticas,

orchis ''Orchis'' is a genus in the orchid family (Orchidaceae), occurring mainly in Europe and Maghreb, Northwest Africa, and ranging as far as Tibet, Mongolia, and Xinjiang. The name is from the Ancient Greek ὄρχις ''orchis'', meaning "testicl ...

, pasqueflowers and others. There is also a rich bird colony (

owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

bee-eater The bee-eaters are a group of birds in the family (biology), family Meropidae, containing three genera and thirty-one species. Most species are found in Africa and Asia, with a few in southern Europe, Australia, and New Guinea. They are characte ...

s etc.).

Settlement

There used to be a village Úhošť on the top of the hill. It probably existed in

Prehistory Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use ...

and some cultures from the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

(

Knovíz culture The Knovíz culture () was an upper Danubian subgroup of the Late Bronze Age Urnfield culture, located mainly in Bohemia, Thuringia, and Bavaria. The eponymous type site for this culture, in the Czech village of Knovíz, is located near Prague. ...

) have been approved by excavations. The first written record of the village comes from 1401 when it was sold to a Kadaň townsman. It changed the holders coming usually from the nearby noble families. It remained in the property of the Thun family since the confiscations after the

Battle of White Mountain The Battle of White Mountain (; ) was an important battle in the early stages of the Thirty Years' War. It led to the defeat of the Bohemian Revolt and ensured Habsburg control for the next three hundred years. It was fought on 8 November 16 ...

till 1850 when it became an independent municipality and had a steady population of about 50 people. The population started to decline after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and the village was officially dissolved in 1963. Nowadays there are just scrubby ruins of several houses.

Tourism

There is an educational trail leading through the nature reserve.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Uhost Former villages in the Czech Republic Mountains and hills of the Czech Republic Chomutov District Populated places disestablished in 1963 1963 disestablishments in Europe National nature reserves in the Czech Republic