Lipno is a reservoir on the Vltava in the Šumava, 42 km long according to the Lipensko tourist association, in whose surroundings lie settlements mentioned since 1281.
Lipno is a reservoir on the Vltava river in South Bohemia, in the landscape of the Šumava near the border with Austria and Germany. According to the Lipensko tourist association (Turistický spolek Lipenska), the reservoir is 42 km long and 10 km wide at its widest point, and it is also called the Czech sea.[1]
Water sports and the Vltava
On the water, according to the association, kayakers, sailors, windsurfers and kite flyers are active, and equipment rentals and steamboat cruises are available. Around the reservoir there are several dozen beaches, partly sandy and partly grassy.[1]
The Vltava, which feeds the reservoir, is navigable above the dam and below it. In its upper part it flows through the territory of Šumava National Park. Below the dam it forms the rapids called Čertovy proudy, where the European whitewater slalom championships are held and where the film Rafťáci was shot. The association describes the stretch of the river from Vyšší Brod through Rožmberk downstream as the most visited river in the Czech Republic.[1]
Nature
The upper part of the Lipensko area belongs to Šumava National Park, where the ridges rise above 1,300 metres above sea level. The highest mountain is Plechý (1,378 m), beneath which lies the glacial-origin Plešné jezero lake. Near the village of Stožec, remnants of primeval forest remain and the wooden Stožec Chapel stands.[1]
The entire right bank of the reservoir is part of the Šumava Protected Landscape Area (CHKO Šumava). On the left bank, north of Horní Planá, lies the partly accessible Boletice Military District. According to the association, lynx, capercaillie, black grouse and elk live in the forests, and the wolf is slowly returning. The freshwater pearl mussel and the otter live in the upper Vltava.[1]
Cycling and attractions
According to the association, the longest Czech routes for inline skating and recreational cycling run around the reservoir. From Stožec to Lipno nad Vltavou, several dozen kilometres of asphalt paths intended only for skaters and cyclists lead. From Jelení Vrchy to Rožmberk, a 70 km route, mostly downhill, runs along the Schwarzenberg Canal, the reservoir and the Vltava.[1]
Among the attractions, the association lists the Treetop Walkway, the Forest Kingdom, a pair of bobsleigh tracks operating all year, rope centres, lookout towers, Lipno Line boat cruises and a minigolf course in Lipno nad Vltavou.[1]
Settlement and rafting
The oldest records of the colonisation of what is now the village of Lipno nad Vltavou date from 1281, when the settlements of Studené, Plískov, Kobylnice, Slupečná and Petrův mlýn are mentioned. The settlements belonged to the Rožmberk estates and by the end of the 15th century had passed to the Cistercian monastery in Vyšší Brod. Petrův mlýn now lies beneath the surface of the reservoir. Until the construction of the Lipno housing estate, Slupečná was an independent village, and since 1954 it has been a hamlet of Lipno nad Vltavou.[2]
In 1530, according to the land register, there were 28 settled houses in the settlements, with roughly 150 to 170 inhabitants. Lipno itself, with three farmsteads, appears for the first time then as well. The settlements lay on the left bank of the Vltava, which fed them but also threatened them during the spring thaw.[2]
Timber was floated down the Vltava above today's reservoir as early as the beginning of the 16th century, and in 1530 a proposal was made to make the Čertovy proudy navigable. In 1575 rafting became a free trade, and for local farmers it became the main occupation. Before the Čertovy proudy the rafts were taken apart and the timber was carried to Vyšší Brod on ox-drawn wagons. Farmers in Kramolín therefore concentrated on breeding draught oxen.[2]