Location: Bohemian Forest, West Bohemia Map
Area: 18.4 ha
Depth: 40.6 m
Černé Jezero or Black lake is situated in Bohemian Forest, West Bohemia of the Czech Republic. Černé Jezero covers and area of 18.4 ha and reaches a depth of 40.6 meters. A single Černý Potok (Black Stream) begins in the lake. The lake was carved out by the glaciers during period of Pleistocene of the Ice Age. The name of the lake is given due to black coloration of its surface. Coniferous trees produce pollen that collects in the lake and make a layer of black sludge several feet deep thus giving its coloration. Thousands of tourists are drawn to Černé Jezero due to pristine nature of untouched forests. Human activity left few marks in these lands. The largest addition is probably pumped storage power plant that was constructed by Skoda Works company in 1929- 30. Today it is a monument of an industrial age.
The lake lies under the northern slope of Jezerní hora, which rises
above it with the 320-meter-high Jezerní stěn. It belongs to the karst
lakes excavated by a glacier during the Würm glaciation period. The
black color of the lake is caused by the reflection of the dark forests
that surround it. The bottom of the lake is rock, on which there is
currently a layer of silt about nine meters thick, which is pollen from
the surrounding trees, which has been deposited here for thousands of
years.
Two tributaries flow into the lake from the south. Water
from the lake flows through the Černý potok into the Úhlava river. The
transparency of the water reaches a depth of 4-5 meters. The surface
usually freezes in the period from December to April to May, and the
thickness of the ice is up to 75 centimeters.
In 1911, the then owner of the land, Vilém Hohenzollernský, decided to protect the territory of Černý and the nearby Devil's Lake, at the initiative of the German botanist Dr. Hugo Konwentz. In 1933, the lakes became part of the Černé a Čertovo jezero national nature reserve with an area of 208.46 hectares. Lake sedge and sedge grow in the lake. Among the phytoplankton are represented the pantotheca Peridinium umbonatum and Gymnodinium uberrimum and the goldfish Dinobryon pediforme. From the zooplankton, the sea urchin Ceriodaphnia quadrangula and the larvae of the crustacean Molanna nigra.
The mysterious place inspired Czech artists (Jan Neruda – Romance of
the Black Lake, Adolf Heyduk – U horského jezera, Jaroslav Vrchlický –
Black Lake, Antonín Dvořák – cycle Ze Šumava). The lake is also shrouded
in many legends.
Here, in 1964, the state security staged an
affair with the discovery of secret documents from the Second World War
with the code name Neptun.
Between 1929 and 1930, our first pumping hydroelectric power station was built in the Úhlava valley. It includes two Pelton turbines (1500 kW and 370 kW) and a horizontal flow Kaplan turbine (40 kW).
After 1950, the lake was included in the border zone and inaccessible
to the public. In the 1960s, it was made available again under the
supervision of the border guards. In the early 1970s, ČSAD bus service
began to be provided here seasonally. For example, a bus from the
municipal public transport in Klatovy was used for it on weekends, and
later a Škoda 706 RTO bus from the municipal office in Železná Ruda. The
operation of the line was terminated around 1989 in connection with the
increase in the local nature protection regime.
From August 7 to
28, 2010, a special bus line under the number 439040 from the parking
lot in Špičácké sedlo with four pairs of connections per day operated by
the gas bus SOR CN 12 EKOBUS was renewed by ČSAD buses Pilsen on the
order of the city of Železná Ruda, the tariff and transport conditions
announced by the city apply Iron ore. The operation of the line was made
possible by the exception and conditions set by the Administration of
the Šumava Protected Area, valid for four years for the period from June
to September. The city has been negotiating with the PLA on the
introduction of transport since 2008.
Since 2018, the town of
Železná Ruda has been running a tourist train that takes up to 60 people
directly to the lake several times a day. It starts in the morning from
the center of Železná Ruda, continues around Černé jezero - Špičácké
sedlo, and returns to Železná Ruda in the afternoon. The train is
adapted for transporting wheelchairs and is primarily intended for
ZTP/TP.
The red-marked pedestrian route of the Club of Czech
Tourists leads around the lake from Malé Špičák, continuing further to
the northwest. The yellow-marked walking route starts here, along with
the educational trail NS Špičák – Černé jezero and the cycling ridge
route 2055 to Špičácké sedlo. The cycling route from Černý jezero
continues together with the red route to the northwest.