Hrubý Jeseník (sometimes called High Ash Mountains in English; or ''Hohes Gesenke'', ) is a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have aris ...

and geomorphological mesoregion of the Czech Republic. It is located in the east of the country in the

Olomouc Olomouc (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 103,000 inhabitants, making it the Statutory city (Czech Republic), sixth largest city in the country. It is the administrative centre of the Olomouc Region. Located on the Morava (rive ...

and Moravian-Silesian regions. It is the second highest mountain range in 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 ...

Etymology

According to the most probable theory, the name has its origin in the word ''jasan'', i.e. ' ash'. ''Jeseník'' (respectively ''Jesenný potok'') was first the name of a stream that flowed through an ash forest in a valley. The name was Germanized to ''Gesenke'' (i.e. 'slope') and used as a name of a small town that was founded in the valley (but later disappeared), and then it was transferred first to the valley, and then to the whole mountain range. Later the name was changed back to Czech ''Jeseník''. Jeseníky (plural form of Jeseník) is a collective term for an area that includes the mountain ranges of Hrubý Jeseník (literally 'rough Jeseník') and

Nízký Jeseník Nízký Jeseník (, ) is a flat highland and Geomorphological division of the Czech Republic, geomorphological mesoregion of the Czech Republic. It is located in the east of the country in the Olomouc Region, Olomouc and Moravian-Silesian Region, M ...

(i.e. 'low Jeseník').

Geomorphology

Hrubý Jeseník is a mesoregion of the Eastern Sudetes, which is part of the

Sudetes The Sudetes ( ), also known as the Sudeten Mountains or Sudetic Mountains, is a geomorphological subprovince of the Bohemian Massif province in Central Europe, shared by the Czech Republic, Poland and Germany. They consist mainly of mountain rang ...

within the

Bohemian Massif The Bohemian Massif ( or ''Český masiv'', or ''Böhmisches Massiv'') is a geomorphological province in Central Europe. It is a large massif stretching over most of the Czech Republic, eastern Germany, southern Poland and northern Austria. Th ...

. It is the second-highest mountain range in the

. There are 56 peaks with an altitude of at least 1,000 m, which are spread evenly throughout the territory. It is bordered with the

in the southeast, with the Zlatohorská Highlands in the northeast, with the Golden Mountains in the northwest, and with the

Hanušovice Highlands Hanušovice Highlands (, ) are highlands within the Eastern Sudetes mountain range that runs between Poland and the Czech Republic. It is named after Hanušovice town. The area is 793 km² and its average elevation is 527.2 meters. The hig ...

in the southwest. Hrubý Jeseník is further subdivided into the microregions of Keprník Mountains, Medvědí Mountains and Praděd Mountains. The highest peaks are: * Praděd, * Vysoká hole, *Petrovy kameny, * Keprník, *Velký Máj, *Vozka, *Malý Děd, *Jelení hřbet, * Břidličná hora, * Dlouhé stráně, A distinctive feature of the relief is also Mt. Medvědí vrch, which at is the highest mountain of the Medvědí Mountains microregion and is among the most prominent mountains of Hrubý Jeseník.

Geography

The territory has an approximately circular shape. Hrubý Jeseník has an area of and an average elevation of . Several rivers and streams originate in the mountain range. The most important are the Desná and the sources of the

Opava Opava (; , ) is a city in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 55,000 inhabitants. It lies on the Opava (river), Opava River. Opava is one of the historical centres of Silesia and was a historical capital of Czech Sile ...

River. The only notable body of water is the Dlouhé stráně Reservoir. Due to the mountainous character of the landscape, there are no larger settlements here. The largest settlement in the territory is Vrbno pod Pradědem. The town of

Jeseník Jeseník (; until 1947 Frývaldov (); , ) is a spa town in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 10,000 inhabitants. Administrative division Jeseník consists of three municipal parts (in brackets population according to the 202 ...

is located just beyond the borders of the mountain range.

Climate

Protection of nature

Almost the entire territory of Hrubý Jeseník is protected within the Jeseníky Protected Landscape Area. The Jeseníky PLA then extends further to the north into the Zlatohorská Highlands and to the south into the

. Furthermore, small-scaled protected areas are defined. There are 32 small-scaled protected areas in the Jeseníky PLA. The most important are the national nature reserves Praděd, Šerák-Keprník, Rejvíz and Skřítek (Skřítek and Rejvíz extend only marginally into Hrubý Jeseník), and the Javorový vrch National Nature Monument.

Gallery

Praded v zime.jpg, TV and observation tower on summit of Praděd Certovy Kameny.jpg, Čertovy kameny PetrovyKameny.jpg, Petrovy kameny

References

External links

Jeseníky Protected Landscape Area
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hruby Jesenik Mountain ranges of the Czech Republic Sudetes Geography of the Moravian-Silesian Region Geography of the Olomouc Region