Medlovický lom Natural Monument: Geological Profile and Protected Landscape Context in Zlínský Kraj

The first documented reference to the porcelanite at Medlovice dates from 1884, when small-scale quarrying of the red-colored stone was already taking place. Locals referred to the material as červenka or červenice, and used it locally for building and surfacing.

A new quarry at the present location of the protected area was opened only in the twentieth century, in the years before the Second World War. From the 1950s through the 1970s, the agricultural cooperative from Boršice near Buchlovice extracted the stone, grinding and using it to reinforce local roads and as a building aggregate. Porcelanite from Medlovice was also used as a decorative surface in pathways within the chateau park at Buchlovice.

After 1997, when the site was declared a natural monument, industrial extraction was halted. Despite a barrier being placed at the entrance to the quarry in 1998, repeated attempts by local residents and landowners to resume illegal extraction have remained a continual pressure on the protection of the area.

The landscape around Medlovický lom is shaped by the gentle hills of the eastern margin of the Středomoravské Karpaty. The site sits on the Vážanská vrchovina, a subunit of the broader Kyjovská pahorkatina, with the Žádovická pahorkatina forming the immediate geomorphological context.

To the south and east rise the wooded ridges of the Chřiby, while the surroundings of the quarry are more open and agricultural, dominated by fields, small villages, and traditional Moravian rural land use. The quarry itself is a small scar cut into this otherwise smooth terrain, where the previously extracted material has left an artificial cliff face.

The quarry wall is roughly fifty meters long and rises up to five meters, exposing a continuous cross-section through the porcelanite body and its contact zones with overlying and underlying rocks. At its base, a shallow pool collects water, adding a minor wetland element to the otherwise dry, stony setting of the abandoned pit.

Ecologically, Medlovický lom is a very small but locally meaningful site within a largely agricultural landscape. The habitat value of the protected area is concentrated in two contrasting microenvironments: the bare rock and weathered stone of the quarry face, and a shallow seasonal pool at the base of the pit.

The quarry face itself supports limited vegetation because the porcelanite is hard and breaks into sharp-edged fragments, but its exposed surfaces are part of the geological protection. The shallow pool at the bottom of the quarry provides breeding habitat for several amphibian species, making the old extraction site a small refuge in an otherwise intensively farmed area.

The wider surroundings of the quarry are typical of the eastern Moravian foothills, with mixed agricultural land, small woodlands, and the edges of the Chřiby forest complex nearby. This combination of open farmland and forest margin gives the broader locality a transitional character between lowland and hill forest ecosystems.

Wildlife is not the primary focus of Medlovický lom, which is protected chiefly for its geological value. The most consistent faunal feature of the site is the amphibian community that uses the shallow pool at the base of the quarry.

Amphibians are explicitly mentioned in the protection rationale because the pool offers an unusual, largely predator-free breeding habitat in the middle of an agricultural landscape. Beyond this small pool, the surrounding countryside supports the typical fauna of the Moravian foothills, but the protected area itself is too small to host richer woodland or meadow wildlife communities.

Medlovický lom has been protected since 7 September 1997, when it was declared a přírodní památka, a natural monument, by the former District Office of Uherské Hradiště under the Czech nature conservation system. Its IUCN-compatible category places it among small sites recognized primarily for outstanding geological features.

The conservation rationale rests on the quarry wall as a complete natural profile of porcelanite, including the contact zones with both overlying and underlying strata, which makes the site scientifically valuable for understanding the unusual process of natural clay firing by burning lignite. The small pool at the base of the quarry adds an amphibian component to the protection objectives.

Protection is not without challenges: although entry to the quarry has been physically restricted since 1998, recurring attempts at illegal extraction by local residents and landowners continue to threaten the integrity of the geological profile. This makes ongoing management, monitoring, and public awareness important parts of the conservation effort.

The cultural context of Medlovický lom is closely tied to the traditional rural economy of the Uherské Hradiště district. Porcelanite was a practical local resource here long before it became a subject of conservation interest, and villagers referred to the distinctive red stone as červenka or červenice.

That stone was used for strengthening local roads, as a building material, and even as a decorative surface in the chateau park at nearby Buchlovice, an estate that itself anchors the regional cultural heritage of southeastern Moravia. Its use in these structures links the geological feature directly to the local architectural and landscape identity.

Because the quarry sits on the edge of the village of Medlovice, the tension between small-scale economic use of the resource and preservation of the geological profile reflects a broader rural pattern in the Czech countryside, where sites of natural and scientific value coexist with traditional land and resource management.

A roughly fifty-meter-long quarry wall, up to five meters high, displaying a complete natural profile of porcelanite in multiple color shades from brick-red through brown, violet, and blue-grey to pale grey.

A small amphibian pool at the base of the former extraction pit, giving the geological site a modest but real biodiversity function.

A documented history of local use stretching back to 1884, with the red porcelanite, locally called červenka or červenice, having been quarried for road surfacing, construction, and decorative paving in the Buchlovice chateau park.

Medlovický lom is a small geological monument whose interest does not depend strongly on the season, so a quiet visit can be productive at almost any time of year. Spring and early summer tend to be the most rewarding for biodiversity, when the amphibian pool at the base of the quarry is most active and the surrounding Moravian countryside is at its greenest.

Late spring also offers pleasant walking conditions in the rolling terrain around the village of Medlovice, while autumn can highlight the contrast between the red porcelanite, surrounding farmlands, and the nearby Chřiby woodlands. Winter visits are possible but should take into account that the quarry may be wet and the approach track rough after thaw.