Historical sights
Vsen
Všeň attracts the attention of geopark's visitors coming from Prague by a church visible from afar – the church of St. Philip and St. Jacob, located on the hill Ostrá on the slope of the Chlum bank. The village extends on the bank above a wide valley of the river Jizera. The first references to the village are from the year 1318. Chlum is formed by quartz sandstones of the Teplice formation. The thickness of the outcropping sandstone is only about 20 m; the sandstone is underlain by marlstones. The rock city is a remnant of western part of the Hrubá Skála sandstone block. The top of Chlum is a unique representative of a small rock city. The morphology is frequently formed by gravitational slides. Sandy soil dominates on the slopes, and the valley of Jizera is filled by good deep topsoil. The ridge of Chlum is covered by a mixed forest with a relict pine grove. The boggy meadow at a small pond is the habitat of a rare association of low-sedge boggy meadows of the alliance Caricion davallianae with the species Vignea davalliana, Eriophorum angustifolium, Viola palustris and Dactylorhiza majalis. Regarding significant species of birds, the occurrence of Strix aluco and Corvus corax is characteristic for Chlum. The small forest pond Vústra contributes to biodiversity thanks to occurrence of amphibians Triturus alpestris, Triturus vulgaris and Bufo bufo. Directly in Všeň fruity trees thrive: apples, pears and plums. Humans lived in Všeň already in the early eneolite (4082–3972 B.C.), in the late Bronze Age (1054 – 891 B.C.) and in the early Middle Ages (1025 – 1164 A.D.). Late-Medieval to modern (1539–1635) homestead on the village's periphery, which included a wood-loamy residential house built on underpinning (21×10 m) made of boulders, was destroyed during a fire. The homestead also included a water construction, perhaps belonging to a hammer mill or to other device, where iron was processed (as evidenced by founds of metallic slag, picks, chisels, punches etc.). In the historical centre there is a school, presbytery, municipal cemetery and a church. The doorstep of the church is 286.7 m above sea level and the top of the tower is 36.4 m about it. The church of St. Philip and St. Jacob from the turn of 13th and 14th century was rebuilt in neo-Gothic in the year 1836. At the stairs to the cemetery there are baroque statues of six saints from the first half of 18th century. At the church there is a beautiful outlook into large area of the Jizera watershed, from Ještěd to behind Mladá Boleslav.
The church of St. Philip and St. Jacob
Contact
Geopark UNESCO Český ráj
Jiří Vlasák
e-mail:vlasak@geopark-ceskyraj.cz
http://www.geopark-ceskyraj.cz
