Přírodní park Heřmanův Městec: A Protected Landscape in the Chrudim District Foothills

The landscape that now forms Přírodní park Heřmanův Městec has been shaped over more than two centuries of aristocratic estate management. Following the reconstruction of the château in 1784, Count Jan Václav Špork established a natural-landscape-style English park on the grounds south of the building, taking advantage of the gentle rise of the terrain toward the south. This early park formed the core of what is still called the Zámecký park, and its design was completed by the second decade of the 19th century, when it received largely its present form.

The original layout relied on three diverging sight-lines cutting through the landscape. Of these, the central axis, roughly 600 metres long, has survived best and still links the château, the Zámecký rybník, and distant views toward Kunětická hora. The eastern portion of the park gradually evolved into a more naturalistic woodland of oak with an admixture of Scots pine, blending formal design with regenerated forest.

In the 20th century, the lesopark Palác, the largest section of today's protected area, received a major renewal of its trees and grassland in 1969, carried out in cooperation with Laub, the gardener of the last aristocratic owner from the Kinský family. A violent storm in June 2008 caused significant damage, requiring the felling of many trees. During the Second World War, part of the château park area was used as a military airfield, a transient chapter in its long history.

In 1996 the area was formally declared a nature park (přírodní park), providing legal protection to the landscape mosaic that had formed through centuries of estate care. Independently, the Zámecký park and Bažantnice were also recognised as the Heřmanův Městec natural monument and designated a European Site of Community Importance within the Natura 2000 network, reflecting both their heritage and their ecological value.

The landscape of Přírodní park Heřmanův Městec is defined by the meeting of two contrasting landform regions. The northern portion belongs to the Svitavská pahorkatina, more specifically the Heřmanoměstecká tabule, with gently rolling terrain. The southern portion climbs into the northern foothills of the Železné hory, and this juxtaposition produces a relatively pronounced elevation range within the park.

Near the Zámecký rybník pond in the northwest, the terrain sits at roughly 280 to 290 metres above sea level, while the wooded heights within the lesopark Palác rise to about 382 and 390 metres, giving the park a vertical span of more than 100 metres. This shift from water-side flats to forested ridges creates a layered visual experience, alternating open parkland views, meadow-edged slopes, and dense woodland crests.

Underlying this topography is a geological base of Upper Cretaceous sediments, predominantly calcium-rich marls. This calcareous substrate has shaped both the soil conditions and the vegetation communities, and explains the presence of calcium-demanding woodland and herb species throughout the area. Streams, including the Podolský potok and one of its right-bank tributaries, cut through the park, feeding the Zámecký rybník, the smaller Ježkovka pond, and the maintained spring known as Studánka U zlomené vrby.

The vegetation of Přírodní park Heřmanův Městec is largely secondary in character and reflects centuries of human design and management rather than undisturbed natural forest. The Zámecký park contains a curated arboretum of approximately 29 tree species, a mixture of native Central European broadleaves such as European beech, pedunculate oak, sessile oak, hornbeam, small-leaved and large-leaved lime, ash, and several maples, alongside introduced and ornamental species including black pine, Weymouth pine, Douglas fir, red oak, Caucasian walnut, Plane tree, catalpa, common horse chestnut, and weeping forms of beech.

The eastern part of the Zámecký park has, over time, taken on the character of a near-natural oak woodland with Scots pine admixture, illustrating how even formal parks can evolve into ecologically richer forest. The lesopark Palác continues this forested character on a larger scale and includes orchard enclosures within its mosaic.

The herb layer is particularly rich and supports a notable spring flora on the calcareous soils. Recorded species include wood anemone, yellow wood anemone, oxlip, dark lungwort, hairy buttercup, lily of the valley, herb Paris, hollowroot, spring pea, and toothwort, among others. Autumn crocus has also been observed flowering in late summer, adding a further seasonal dimension to the park's botanical interest.

The wildlife profile of Přírodní park Heřmanův Městec combines typical Central European park and forest fauna with several species of genuine conservation importance. In the ground layer and among low vegetation, common reptiles and amphibians such as the smooth newt (skokan zelený), slow worm (slepýš křehký), and common lizard (ještěrka obecná) are present.

The park supports a varied woodland bird community that nests in its mature trees, including black woodpecker, great spotted woodpecker, Eurasian nuthatch, common chaffinch, several leaf warbler species (budníčci), and typical warblers (pěnice). Small mammals such as the wood mouse and the red-backed vole are common in the leaf-litter and soil layer.

Particular ecological significance is attached to the park's underground and built environments. The château cellars and attics host summer colonies of the critically endangered lesser horseshoe bat (vrápenec malý), while larger bat species including the greater mouse-eared bat, common pipistrelle, Daubenton's bat, and long-eared bat overwinter in the underground spaces of the park.

The single most important species driving the park's higher-level conservation status is the beetle páchník hnědý, a saproxylic insect dependent on old hollow trees. It is the documented presence of this species that led to the Zámecký park and Bažantnice being designated as a European Site of Community Importance under Natura 2000 and protected simultaneously as the Heřmanův Městec natural monument.

Přírodní park Heřmanův Městec carries multiple, overlapping layers of conservation recognition, reflecting the seriousness with which its habitats and species are treated. As a přírodní park, it benefits from landscape-level protection designed to preserve the overall character of the area, including its mix of designed parkland, forest, and agricultural edge zones, while still allowing recreational use by the local population.

On top of this, the Zámecký park and Bažantnice are separately declared as the Heřmanův Městec natural monument and designated as a Site of Community Importance under the European Natura 2000 network. This Natura 2000 designation was specifically triggered by the presence of the beetle páchník hnědý, an indicator of old trees and undisturbed deadwood habitats whose conservation has consequences for whole assemblages of saproxylic insects.

The underground and built parts of the château complex contribute a second important conservation thread through their bat fauna, including summer colonies of the critically endangered lesser horseshoe bat. Together, these designations make the park a small but ecologically dense conservation unit, where landscape heritage, old-growth habitat qualities, protected invertebrates, and underground bat roosts all interact within a single boundary.

The cultural dimension of Přírodní park Heřmanův Městec is inseparable from its physical landscape. The park grew out of the aristocratic estate of Heřmanův Městec, and its present appearance owes much to Count Jan Václav Špork, who in 1784, in connection with the reconstruction of the château, laid out an English-style landscape park to the south of the building. This 18th-century landscape garden tradition, refined in the early 19th century, remains the cultural backbone of the area.

The Kinský family, the last aristocratic owners of the estate, left their own imprint, especially through the renewal of the lesopark Palác in 1969 by their gardener Laub. The presence of mature specimen trees, labelled for visitors, and the preserved sight-lines toward the château and Kunětická hora reflect a deliberate cultural tradition of framing views and presenting landscape as an aesthetic experience.

Even the Second World War left a trace: part of the park was temporarily converted into a military airfield. Today, the park holds a less dramatic but no less significant role as a shared local landscape, used by residents for short recreational visits and crossed by two marked hiking trails that link it to the broader Železné hory hiking tradition.

A heritage-designed 18th-century landscape park wrapped around a late-Baroque château, with a still-intact 600-metre central vista linking the château, pond, and distant castle hill.

A 341-hectare protected area that fuses ornamental arboretum, near-natural oak wood, and older pasture-forest at Bažantnice, all set between two distinct landform regions.

A conservation story that reaches beyond the park itself: the same grounds host Natura 2000 habitats for the old-tree beetle páchník hnědý and summer colonies of the critically endangered lesser horseshoe bat in the château cellars.

Spring is one of the most rewarding periods to experience Přírodní park Heřmanův Městec, when the calcareous woodland floor comes alive with wood anemones, yellow anemones, lungwort, lily of the valley, and other spring geophytes, and the château park's arboretum displays fresh foliage. The reopening of the network of trails from Heřmanův Městec into the Železné hory also makes this season attractive for hikers.

Late summer and early autumn bring a different atmosphere, when light becomes warmer and lowland meadows and forest edges change colour; the autumn crocus has been recorded flowering in the park in late summer, providing an unexpected seasonal accent. Winter, with bare deciduous trees, emphasises the structure of the original 18th-century design, exposing the surviving sight-lines and the silhouette of the château more clearly than at any other time of year. Throughout the year, the park's role as a short-stay recreation area for the town makes it accessible at virtually any season.