Láz Reservoir, reservoir in Láz, Czech Republic

Láz Reservoir is the first dam on the Litavka, which rises at 765 m on the slopes of Malý Tok and Hradiště in the Brdy forest. Its earthen dam is 245 m long, 15.7 m high and 5 m wide at the crown, at an elevation of 643 m. It holds 829,000 m³ of highly acidic water and covers 15.5 ha within an 8.8 km² wooded catchment.

Built between 1818 and 1822 as a water source for the Příbram mines and smelters, the reservoir was first named Erzherzog Franz Karl Teich No. 1 after Archduke Franz Karl. After the outlet pipe and dam structure failed, it was rebuilt in 1857–1859; the next major reconstruction came only in 1991–1993.

The reservoir's original name, Erzherzog Franz Karl Teich No. 1, honoured Archduke Franz Karl. The wooded valley around it is visited by tourists, cyclists, cross-country skiers, mushroom pickers and blueberry gatherers; large blueberry plantations cover the Žernovák hill. Above the reservoir lie forest meadows at the site of the former Skelná Huť glassworks.

The reservoir lies in the forested valley of the Litavka, under 1 km west of Láz (Žernová); the dam crown is 245 m long and 5 m wide. The Litavka rises at 765 m on the slopes of Malý Tok and Hradiště, and the valley above the reservoir holds wetlands and peat bogs. The Struhy channel, a 17.5 km masonry conduit to the mines at Březové Hory, has not been maintained since 1960 and is partly buried.

The historic Struhy water channel system, which once stretched about 17 kilometers across the landscape, is now largely destroyed or buried, yet fragments of this 19th-century engineering feat remain visible along parts of its former route. A small stone cross called Linkův kříž memorializes a young forester named Jan Link who died under mysterious circumstances in the forest in 1804.