Litovelské Pomoraví Protected Landscape Area (, usually abbreviated as ''CHKO Litovelské Pomoraví'') is a protected landscape area in the

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...

of the Morava River, north of

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 ...

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 ...

. It was established on 15 November 1990 on an area of . In the centre of the area lies the town of

Litovel Litovel (; ) is a town in Olomouc District in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 9,500 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument zones, urban monum ...

, from which the protected area has derived its name. The ecological backbone of the protected landscape area is the naturally meandering Morava, in floodplain forests branching out and forming a complex system of permanent and temporary river arms, a so-called anastomosing river system. The uncontrollability and power of regular floods in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

led Hanakian farmers to building a wreath of

dikes Dyke or dike may refer to: General uses * Dyke (slang), a slang word meaning "lesbian" * Dike (geology), formations of magma or sediment that cut through and across the layering of adjacent rocks * Dike (mythology), ''Dikē'', the Greek goddess ...

around the forest where it meets agricultural land. Thanks to these the floodplain forests of Litovelské Pomoraví have within living memory offered significant flood protection to surrounding villages and the cities of Olomouc and Litovel, as they form an enormous natural

polder A polder () is a low-lying tract of land that forms an artificial hydrology, hydrological entity, enclosed by embankments known as levee, dikes. The three types of polder are: # Land reclamation, Land reclaimed from a body of water, such as a ...

catching and storing the overflowing water without causing damage. West of Litovel the floodplain forest complex passes into the picturesque landscape around

Nové Zámky Nové Zámky (; ) is a town in Nové Zámky District in the Nitra Region of southwestern Slovakia. Geography The town is located on the Danubian Lowland, on the Nitra River, at an altitude of 119 metres. It is located around 100 km fr ...

with a set of tastefully arranged small romantic buildings from the 19th century (Obelisk, the artificial ruins of Rytířské síné, Přatelství church, the artificial cave of Podkova). A prominent scenic element here is the calcareous ridge of Třesín hill, sharply falling into the Morava river floodplain. The strongly karsted Devonian

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

of Třesín enabled the formation of a complex cave system (

Mladeč caves The Mladečské Caves () are a cave complex in the municipality of Mladeč in the Czech Republic. It is located in the Třesín National Nature Monument within the Litovelské Pomoraví Protected Landscape Area. The complex labyrinth of Fracture ...

) and a unique geological phenomenon called "buried karst" in the floodplain. In the northern part of the protected landscape area the floodplain forest is connected to the large area of Doubravy with hilly beech-oak and oak-hornbeam woods which reach up to the

Úsov Úsov () is a town in Šumperk District in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 1,200 inhabitants. Administrative division Úsov consists of two municipal parts (in brackets population according to the 2021 census): *Úsov (1,01 ...

castle.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Litovelske Pomoravi Protected Landscape Area Protected landscape areas in the Czech Republic Protected areas established in 1900 Geography of the Olomouc Region Tourist attractions in the Olomouc Region Ramsar sites in the Czech Republic