The Pálava Protected Landscape Area includes the Pavlov Hills and the surrounding landscape in the south of Moravia and was declared on 3 May 1976.
The Pálava Protected Landscape Area covers 83 km² in the westernmost spur of the Pannonian Basin, in the south of Moravia. It includes the Pavlov Hills, the adjoining Milovice Hills and the floodplain of the Thaya with the Křivé jezero lake. The altitude of the area ranges from 163 to 550 metres. The protected landscape area was declared on 3 May 1976[1][2].
Geology and relief
The highest parts of the Pavlov Hills consist of white limestones formed from the shells of marine organisms 150 million years ago. Thanks to their hardness they resisted erosion and form today's rock cliffs. Beneath them lie younger layers of sandstones and claystones, deposited on the floors of seas, lakes and rivers, as well as wind-blown loess. It is precisely the combination of different types of rock and varied terrain that conditions the diversity of the local landscape[1].
Climate and thermophilic species
The area is among the driest and warmest in Czechia, with an average annual temperature that has exceeded 10 °C in recent decades. Such conditions allow the growth and occurrence of thermophilic plants and animals that are found elsewhere in the country only rarely or not at all. They include the large-flowered sandwort on the rocks of Děvín, the steppe oat grass on Šibeničník, the African sage on Stolová hora and the feather grass on Svatý kopeček. The stag beetle, described as the largest Czech beetle, the rare great capricorn beetle, and the butterflies scarce swallowtail and common swallowtail also live here[1].
Diversity of the landscape
Very different types of nature meet here in a small area. Around the Křivé jezero lake, a former meander of the Thaya, lies a floodplain forest subject to flooding. Beavers build dams on the water channels and the eastern imperial eagle nests in old oaks. The higher-lying Milovice Hills are covered with sunlit oak woods in which the hoopoe nests. The limestone hills of the Pavlov Hills themselves are steeper and contain rock faces, grassy steppes with solitary trees including the downy oak, which is part of the emblem of the Pálava Protected Landscape Area, as well as scrub, oak woods and shaded scree forests on the northern slopes. Between the village of Sedlec and the Nesyt pond lies the largest saline marsh in Czechia, formed thanks to underground salt layers and sulphur springs[1].
People and the landscape
The area was settled in the distant past, as shown by archaeological finds, including the figurine known as the Venus of Dolní Věstonice, finds of mammoth bones, remains of Roman military camps and ruins of castles on hilltops. The forests served as a source of timber and as pasture for cattle, and for most of the second millennium they were considerably more open than today, which allowed light-loving species to occur. Grasslands, referred to as steppes, were maintained by mowing and grazing, especially by sheep and goats, or cattle and horses. Without such care they become overgrown with woody plants and unique species disappear, which is why ensuring grazing is one of the tasks of the Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic, Pálava Protected Landscape Area Administration. For centuries limestone was used as a building material, as shown by buildings in Mikulov, and as a source of lime. There were several dozen quarries on Pálava, from small village ones to large industrial quarries on Turold, Janičův vrch and Svatý kopeček[1].
Protection and status
The Pálava Protected Landscape Area contains 17 small-area specially protected sites, namely four national nature reserves, one national nature monument, five nature reserves and seven nature monuments. The area is part of the European Natura 2000 network and includes eight sites of Community importance and one bird area[1]. According to the Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic, the Pavlov Hills, with their limestone rocks, rocky steppe, oak groves, ruins of Gothic castles, the architecture of Mikulov and the wine cellars of the surrounding villages, are one of the best-known and most visited places in Czechia[2]. Care of the landscape, especially ensuring grazing and thinning the forests, is provided by the Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic, Pálava Protected Landscape Area Administration[1][2]. The Pálava Nature House, devoted to the nature of the area and the relationship of people to the landscape, has been opened in Dolní Věstonice[2].