History of the Oblik farm

The forestless silhouette of the dominant 509 m high Oblik Hill on the southern edge of the Central Bohemian Highlands is an integral part of the landscape panorama of the town of Louny. Its extraordinary significance from the point of view of natural history is reflected in its status as a national nature reserve. The body of Oblik is formed by basalt (technically: nepheline basanite) and owes its origin to volcanic activity dating back to the end of the Tertiary period.

The history of Oblik is certainly not without interest, especially due to its location in the neighbourhood of the royal town of Louny. In this context, it was depicted in an engraving by Jan Willenberg dated 1604, making it one of the oldest depicted mountains in our country. The people of Louny were and still are proud of this hill, and it is no coincidence that it was from here that they carried the stone for the ceremonial opening of the National Theatre. The cult significance of the hill was not lost even in the Middle Ages, as evidenced by the record of the chapel's consecration in 1506. Although it was destroyed during the Thirty Years' War, a wooden cross was installed here in 1667. However, before the middle of the 19th century, this monument - the foundations of which can only be suspected at the top of Oblik, disappeared again. Thus, the only man-made structure here is a lighthouse designed for air traffic safety.

Not only the top of the mountain has been widely used by man. For a long period from the mid-15th to the mid-18th century, vines were grown on the sun-warmed southwestern foothills. The eponymous village of 'Oblík', first mentioned in 1335, was located here. During the devastating Thirty Years' War, however, it suffered the same fate as the chapel on top of the mountain. Until the end of the 17th century, a farmstead was established on the site of the vanished village, which still remains there nowadays.