Deer Park Žehušice ( cs, Žehušická obora) is a nature monument in the municipal territory of Žehušice in the

Central Bohemian Region The Central Bohemian Region ( cz, Středočeský kraj, german: Mittelböhmische Region) is an administrative unit ( cz, kraj) of the Czech Republic, located in the central part of its historical region of Bohemia. Its administrative centre is in ...

of the

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

Location

The deer park is located about east of Kutná Hora.

History

Deer Park Žehušice was founded by the Thun-Hohenstein family in 1867. In 1826, Count Matthias Thun-Hohenstein decided to drain the fish pond ''Kravinec'' located behind Žehušice Castle and to build a fence around the area. A park consisting of meadows and groves, covering about 2.5 km², was created. Four years later, Matthias obtained several white deer from Count

Kinsky The House of Kinsky (formerly Vchynští, sg. ''Vchynský'' in Czech; later (in modern Czech) Kinští, sg. ''Kinský''; german: Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau) is a prominent Czech noble family originating from the Kingdom of Bohemia. During th ...

from

Chlumec nad Cidlinou Chlumec nad Cidlinou (; german: Chlumetz an der Zidlina) is a town in Hradec Králové District in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 5,600 inhabitants. Administrative parts The town is made up of town parts of Chlume ...

. The origin of the deer is disputed but the species were likely either from

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. The particular breed was short-lived and the herds held at the same time by Counts Kinsky,

Czernin The House of Czernin ( cs, Černínové z Chudenic; german: Czernin von und zu Chudenitz) is a Czech noble family that was one of the oldest and most prominent noble families in the Kingdom of Bohemia. The family is a descendent family of the ...

and Schwarzenberg were on the verge of dying out. However, the herd in Žehušice has been bred continually. The owners failed to obtain new white deer to introduce fresh blood into the Žehušice line. Therefore a

red deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of wes ...

from a nearby park was selected and let in the reserve. This method of renewing the blood line worked but the result of mixing

gene In biology, the word gene (from , ; "...Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a ba ...

s for colour remained quite unpredictable. As expected, some of the fawns were rust-colored but even a pair of rust-colored deer sometimes gave birth to a white fawn. Currently there are approximately 130 animals, including those with standard and transient colouring. Today the deer park is privately owned and not accessible to visitors.

In popular culture

In 1990, a TV series ''

The Territory of White Deer ''The Territory of White Deer'' ( cs, Území bílých králů, german: Das Geheimnis der weißen Hirsche) is a Czechoslovak TV series. The series was screened on Czechoslovak Television, on German ZDF, Super RTL and Kinderkanal and several time ...

'' was filmed there.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deer Park Zehusice Natural monuments in the Czech Republic Populated places in Kutná Hora District 1867 establishments in Austria-Hungary