Smrk is a

massif In geology, a massif ( or ) is a section of a planet's crust that is demarcated by faults or flexures. In the movement of the crust, a massif tends to retain its internal structure while being displaced as a whole. The term also refers to a ...

and a mountain in the

Moravian-Silesian Beskids The Moravian-Silesian Beskids (Czech: , sk, Moravsko-sliezske Beskydy) is a mountain range in the Czech Republic with a small part reaching to Slovakia. It lies on the historical division between Moravia and Silesia, hence the name. It is part o ...

range in 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 ...

. With a height of it is the second highest summit of the range after

Lysá hora Lysá hora (; pl, Łysa Góra; german: Lysa-berg, Kahlberg) is the highest mountain of the Moravian-Silesian Beskids range in the Czech Republic and also of the historical region of Cieszyn Silesia. It is one of the rainiest places of the countr ...

. Its Northern slope steeply rises from the surrounding lowlands and is separated from the rest of the mountains by the deep

Ostravice River Ostravice ( pl, Ostrawica, german: Ostrawitza) is a river in Moravian-Silesian Region, Czech Republic. It originates in the Moravian-Silesian Beskids and then flows through Ostravice, Frýdlant nad Ostravicí, Frýdek-Místek and Paskov to Ostrava ...

(in the East) and

Čeladenka Čeladenka is a small river in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic, with the source in the Moravian-Silesian Beskids, flowing through the village of Čeladná and entering the Ostravice at Frýdlant nad Ostravicí Frýdlant nad Os ...

(in the West) river valleys; in the South it merges in the lower Zadní hory (i.e. ''Rear mountains'') area. Although its name (which means

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfami ...

) suggests differently, it was originally covered mainly in

beech Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...

and

fir Firs (''Abies'') are a genus of 48–56 species of evergreen coniferous trees in the family (biology), family Pinaceae. They are found on mountains throughout much of North America, North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa. The ...

forests, with a higher share of

closer to the summit. During the industrial revolution in the region under the mountains in the 18th and 19th centuries when many ironworks were established, with a center in

Frýdlant nad Ostravicí Frýdlant nad Ostravicí (; german: Friedland (an der Ostrawitza)) is a town in Frýdek-Místek District in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 9,800 inhabitants. Administrative parts Frýdlant nad Ostravicí is made ...

, there was a high demand for firewood and the original forests were felled out and replaced by secondary

plantations. These were heavily damaged by industrial fall-out from the

Ostrava Ostrava (; pl, Ostrawa; german: Ostrau ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic, and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 280,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four rive ...

region also because non-natives spruce varieties, which were not well adapted to the local climate, were planted there. Thus everyone coming to Smrk from North will see a mountain stripped of trees in its upper parts. Other slopes were not so heavily damaged and are still forested in most places. Especially in the

river valley there any many stretches of preserved or newly planted beech trees. There are limited views from the summit which is covered in most places by also secondary (non-native to the

)

mountain pine ''Pinus mugo'', known as bog pine, creeping pine, dwarf mountain pine, mugo pine, mountain pine, scrub mountain pine, or Swiss mountain pine, is a species of conifer, native to high elevation habitats from southwestern to Central Europe and Sou ...

s. Next to the secondary summit of Malý Smrk (i.e. ''Little Spruce'') there are

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

and

Jan Palach Jan Palach (; 11 August 1948 – 19 January 1969) was a Czech student of history and political economics at Charles University in Prague. His self-immolation was a political protest against the end of the Prague Spring resulting from the 1968 in ...

memorials. Smrk belongs to the

Beskydy Landscape Protected Area Beskydy Protected Landscape Area (PLA) ( cs, Chráněná krajinná oblast Beskydy, abbreviated as ''CHKO Beskydy'') is the largest PLA in the Czech Republic. The area is . Geography Beskydy PLA lies in the south-eastern part of the Moravian Sile ...

( cs, Chráněná krajinná oblast Beskydy). Its summit lies partly in the first (most protected) zone. Furthermore, there are Smrk and Malý Smrk Reserves ( cs, Přírodní rezervace Smrk and cs, Přírodní rezervace Malý Smrk) in the best preserved and most valuable areas of both summits.

External links

* * * {{cite web , last = Podešva , first = Zdeněk , authorlink = , title = PR Smrk , work = Zvláště chráněná území Zlínského kraje, CHKO Beskydy a CHKO Bílé Karpaty , publisher = , date = 2004-09-01 , url = http://nature.hyperlink.cz/Beskydy/Smrk.htm , doi = , accessdate = 2007-01-08 Smrk (Beskid) Smrk