DOI: 10.11118/978-80-7701-030-6-0082

CUKROVARNICKÁ KRAJINA ČESKÝCH ZEMÍ NA PŘÍKLADU PODBRDSKA / SUGAR INDUSTRY LANDSCAPE OF CZECHIA IN CASE STUDY OF PODBRDSKO REGION

Libor Lněnička ORCID...¹

¹ Katedra rekreologie a cestovního ruchu, Fakulta informatiky a managementu, Univerzita Hradec Králové, Rokitanského 62, 500 03 Hradec Králové

Europe and the Czech lands were at the forefront of beet sugar production for almost 200 years. The introduction of sugar beet cultivation meant fundamental land use changes in the river floodplains and in their immediate flat surroundings here. During the 19th and 20th centuries, the production of sugar from sugar beet was one of the most important branches of Czech industry. From more than 380 sugar factories are in this moment in operation only seven. The current post-industrial period bears traces of the gradual decline of this industry, which is exacerbated by the decay of unused industrial sites converted into brownfields. The paper tries to present the historical-geographical aspects of the sugar-making tradition with its impact on the cultural landscape of the Podbrdy region to a broad lay and professional public. The territory has enough natural resources for the cultivation of sugar beet, however, the change in the use of the landscape resulted in a complete suppression of the sugar-making tradition. The transformation of the immediate surroundings of the landscape is documented at 4 original sugar factories in Beroun, Zdice, Osov and Sviňaře.

Keywords: sugar, cultural sugar landscape, historical development, landscape heritage, identification

pages: 82-88, Published: 2025, online: 2025