Nature park Džbán, Nature park in Louny and Kladno Districts, Czech Republic.
Nature park Džbán is a protected area of 416 km² on an opuka (marly limestone) ridge between the North Bohemian brown-coal basin and the Kladno–Rakovník basin, spanning the Louny, Kladno and Rakovník districts. Its highest summit is Louštín at 537 m, with the Džbán hill reaching 536 m; forests cover about 65–70 percent of the territory.
Josef Houda's 1969 book Džbán – ochranářská studie drew conservationists to the area. After long efforts by nature-protection bodies and volunteers from the Louny, Rakovník and Kladno districts and talks with local residents, the park was declared on 1 May 1994 by decree of the Louny district office. Its measured area was 41,578 ha across the three districts, of which 20,378 ha in 45 cadastral units lay in Louny district.
The park's name comes from the Džbán ridge, whose white and golden opuka has been quarried since the earliest stone buildings. This stone shapes the unplastered farmhouses of the area, known as opuka architecture, and is still used in sculpture. In 1943 the famous opuka head of a Celtic hero was found near Mšecké Žehrovice.
The Kounovské kamenné řady educational trail, established in 1987, has 11 stops and starts by the road behind the Mutějovice railway station toward Kounov; it presents 14 rows of stones and the park's geology, botany and history. The Novostrašecko trail, opened in 1994, is 12 km long, starts at the Nové Strašecí railway station, passes the Libeň game enclosure and Mšecké Žehrovice, and has 14 information panels.
The Džbán ridge from Hříškov to Řevničov is the watershed of the Vltava, Berounka and Ohře. East of it the Bakovský potok with the Bilichovský and Červený potok drains to the Vltava; west of it the Smolnický, Klášterský, Hřivický, Hasina and Klučecký streams drain to the Ohře.
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