EN > Trip tips > Umíř

Umíř is the name of an abandoned settlement, spread across a plateau in the midst of an extensive complex of forestland. The area holds particular value for landscape conservationists. After 1945, the German inhabitants of Umíř were expelled; for a brief period, the settlement then became part of the Dlouhá Louka military installation. Over time, the houses gradually succumbed to dilapidation. Only five wells belonging to various homesteads in the village, a chapel, and a few cellars remain to this day. The surviving meadows are the result of 500 years of human activity; the fruit trees here are about 80 - 100 years old. The entire area is part of the Manětín Hills Nature Reserve.

In 2013, ČSOP Berkut, with the support of the NET4GAS Closer to Nature programme, built an educational trail here, with eight stations, a covered seating area, and a bivouac shelter for hikers. The educational trail familiarises visitors with the history of the abandoned settlement of Umíř, describes the local vegetation and the stewardship efforts towards its protection, and also provides an overview of the old local heritage varieties of fruit trees and the unique stone wells serving as sources of water. Out of safety concerns, one of the first measures during the implementation of the revitalisation project was to install covers over the well shafts.

At one of the wells, a wooden windlass has been installed so that visitors have access to local spring water. The project answers the wish of the local Berkut chapter of the ČSOP to showcase the nature reserves in the organisation’s care, and is a continuation of the effort to build bivouac shelters for visitors who are passing through (other nearby bivouac shelters can be found, for example, at the St. Vitus Guild or in the spot of the former "Katovna" (i.e. a place where executions took place) beneath the Šibeniční vrch ("Gallows Hill") near Bečov nad Teplou; at the site "Nad řekou" (By the River).