Hlohovecký rybník, Prostřední rybník

27 January.


The village of Hlohovec lies on the southern shore of Hlohovecký rybník, the lake fringed by alder, birch, beech and other tree species I either cannot name or am wont to misname. Many were overcome by baleful mistletoe.


On the west side of the lake stands Hraniční zámeček (Little Border Château)*, a summer house built for the Liechtensteins in 1816-1819, on the then border between the Moravian Margraviate and Lower Austria - "Zwischen Österreich und Mähren" remains written on the facade. The border moved beyond neighbouring Valtice when the area became part of the Czechoslovak Republic in 1919. To the west lies lake Nesyt (the largest in Moravia), and to the east Hlohovecký rybník is connected to lakes Prostřední and Mlýnský. These, together with two smaller lakes Zámecký and Podzámecký, comprise Lednické rybníky, whose formation dates from the middle ages. Clambering up the bank of Prostřední rybník to Rybniční zámeček (1816) one sees a military bunker hugging the near shore, perfectly aligned with the view south to the gloriette (1820s) atop the bank on the other side (in the shelter of which stand the Three Graces).
On the long straight stretch of the road no. 422 that separates Hlohovecký rybník and Prostřední rybník you can hear and then see cars approach from afar and pass by and not stop.



* zámeček (G. Schlösschen), a small château, or to use English, correction, more ancient French and Germanic words, a manor house.