Praděd is a summit in the Hrubý Jeseník mountains; its surroundings form the Praděd National Nature Reserve, and a television transmitter with an observation platform stands on the summit.
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Praděd is a summit in the Hrubý Jeseník mountains. The summit and its wide surroundings fall within the Praděd National Nature Reserve, which comprises, besides the summit itself, the sites of Bílá Opava, Divoký důl, Petrovy kameny, and Velká kotlina and Malá kotlina [2].
Geology and soils
The geological bedrock of the area consists of crystalline rocks of the Desná dome and its envelope, namely migmatites, gneisses, mica schists, quartzites and phyllites. Layers of basic rocks occur rarely, for example calcareous phyllitic schists in Velká kotlina [1]. The most widespread soil type is modal podzol, which covers almost 70 percent of the reserve. On Vysoká hole there is a relict tundra soil with a so-called microarthropod mor, whose humus layer is formed exclusively from the tiny excrement of springtails. According to the cited study by Rusek from 2005, the development of a ten-centimetre layer of this humus may take at least several tens of thousands of years [1].
Flora
According to the Olomouc Region, the area of Velká kotlina is the floristically richest locality in the Czech Republic [2]. Endemics of the Hrubý Jeseník grow in the reserve; given here under their Czech names, they include lipnice jesenická and zvonek jesenický at Petrovy kameny, jitrocel černavý sudetský and hvozdík kartouzek sudetský in Velká kotlina, and pupava Biebersteinova sudetská in Malá kotlina [1]. Endemics of the Sudeten mountains also occur there, for example zvonek okrouhlolistý sudetský at Tabulové kameny and in Velká kotlina, or jestřábník zlatoblizný around the summit of Praděd and Petrovy kameny [1]. The reserve is home to a number of species that currently occur in the Czech Republic only in the Hrubý Jeseník, among them psineček alpský, škarda sibiřská, hořec tečkovaný, devaterum velkokvětý pravý and rozchodnice růžová, and to species shared only with the Giant Mountains or Králický Sněžník, for example lepnice alpská, řeřišnice rýtolistá and sasanka narcisokvětá [1].
Protection of the area
The summit and its surroundings are protected as the Praděd National Nature Reserve, which includes a complex of natural and near-natural ecosystems tied to the geological base and relief of the highest parts of the Hrubý Jeseník [1]. The reserve includes forest stands of a primeval character and glacial cirques in Velká kotlina and Malá kotlina. According to the Olomouc Region, strict protection conditions apply throughout the reserve [2].
Lookout tower and transmitter
From 1912 to 1959 a neo-Gothic lookout tower stood on the summit of Praděd. The present television transmitter was built in 1983 [2]. The observation platform is located in the second, higher glazed platform of the transmitter at a height of 73 metres from the foot of the tower and is reached by lift [2]. The elevation of the lookout is given as 1,562.8 metres, which according to the Olomouc Region is the second highest point in the Czech Republic [2]. The transmitter tower itself is 146.5 metres tall and, according to the same source, rises 35 metres above the summit of Sněžka [2]. In favourable weather, especially in autumn and winter, the view from the lookout extends to the Giant Mountains 126 kilometres away, the Beskydy 105 kilometres away and Malá Fatra 150 kilometres away [2]. According to the Olomouc Region, the transmitter building also contains a restaurant and a hotel [2].
Pages linking here
- Hurricane-force wind on Sněžka on 1 October 2026
- Jeseníky Protected Landscape Area
- Moravian-Silesian Region
- Olomouc Region