From the History of Nature Conservation

One of the significant milestones in nature conservation in the Czech Republic was the land reform of the First Czechoslovak Republic (the term used for the former Czechoslovakia in 1918 – 1938), which took place a century ago. Its aim was to establish a more socially just system of land ownership, expand the middle class among the agricultural population, and create self-sufficient medium-sized farms that would drive the agriculture modernization. The relevant authorities of the First Republic sought, as part of the reform, to ensure the conservation, protection and management of the natural and cultural heritage of what was then Czechoslovakia.

“It wasn’t until we were inspecting the quarry on September 14, 1950—Director Pastora, Foreman Frič, Duha, and me, Karel Mareš—that I was walking above the quarry when I reached a spot where the quarryman Frant. Štěpán called out to me, ‘Foreman, I just found a hole in the quarry wall after the blast. There was a hole 10 meters long, 4 meters wide, and 3 meters high. A 13-meter-long passage leads from this cave…” recalled Karel Mareš, foreman of the Houba´s Quarry at Zlatý kůň/Golden Horse Hill near the village of Koněprusy (Central Bohemia), in his memoirs in 1997.