Blog posts

Old and New Lakes of Mostecko: A Lecture by hydrobiologist Ivo Přikryl
A remediation of environmental (and social) disturbances caused by extensive open cast brown coal mining in northwest Bohemia is a priority for the Czech environmental policy. In order to provide a conceptual basis for the full restoration of land following such disturbances, a special interdisciplinary project supported by a grant from the Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic was started in 2000. The initial stage of the project was intended to summarize and evaluate findings and works carried out in connection with various reclamation activities in the afflicted area over a period of more than 50 years. The main aims of the three-year project are to make use of the best available knowledge in landscape environmental management, so as to harmonize the ecological, aesthetic, productive and social functions of a valuable new landscape, including the recovery of historical continuity and an understanding of “landscape memory”. The basic landscape functions were assessed at two different levels of scale. On the large scale, the relevant attributes were investigated over the whole area of the Sokolov brown coal basin (220 km2). The data and experience acquired were used to define large scale guiding principles for the rehabilitation of a post-mining landscape. On the small scale, the basic characteristics and functions of the landscape were analysed in the Litov-Chlum model area (2 km2). The information derived from this analysis was used to formulate a small-scale approach for the rehabilitation of the model area and also to define general methodological principles. The lecture will be held in Czech and is for free. To participate in the event please send a short application (stating your name and the title of the lecture) via e-mail to info@frontiers-of-solitude.org. The applicants will receive further specification regarding the meeting point and time. Duration cca 2 hours Max. 15 participants For more information please contact Dagmar Šubrtová: dasas@email.cz …

Mgr. Radoslava Schmelzová
Radoslav Schmelzová, Mgr., studied art history and cultural heritage management at the University of Ostrava, and the theory and history of design and new media at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague. She has worked as an assistant curator at the National Gallery in Prague, the National Heritage Institute, and at the Atelier Contemporary Art Journal. She is currently teaching theory of art for the DAMU program Theatre in alternative space. She is interested in the relationships between contemporary art, the landscape and cultural heritage. …

Jiří Sádlo, RNDr.
Jiří Sádlo, RNDr., CSc., (b. 1958) is biolgist and poet. At the department of geobotany of the Botanical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, he studied geobotany, phytocenology (plant sociology), vegatation mapping, and the historical development of the landscape and vegetation. He lectures at Charles University and the University of South Bohemia. He is the co-author of the books Biology of the Landscape, Landscape and Revolution, and The Landscape as an Interpreted Text. …

Petr Meduna, Ph.D.
Petr Meduna, Ph.D. (b. 1963) is an archeologist and historian. He graduated from the Charles University in Prague, and has worked at the Archaeological Institute in Most (1986-1996), and later in the Archaeological institute in Prague. He is especially interested in the Middle Ages, and the relationships between the social and natural sciences. Literature Hošek, Jiří; Meduna, Petr (2011): The metallography of knives from the medieval village of Hrdlovka and the burial ground of Zlončice, Bohemia, in: J.Hošek, H. Cleere, L. Mihok (eds.), The Archaeolometallurgy of Iron: Recent Developments. …