Vysoký Kamýk lookout tower

The Vysoký Kamýk lookout tower consists of the original brick geodetic tower, which is equipped with a more modern metal superstructure, serving as a transmitter for the mobile operator. It is located on the hill Vysoký Kamýk at an altitude of 627 meters, about 3 km from Albrechtice nad Vltavou to the south and about 35 km from České Budějovice to the north.

The height of the original stone tower is 16 meters and the total height of the lookout tower is 46 meters. The viewing platform is located at a height of 33 meters and has a nice view of the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands, Novohradské Mountains, Bohemian Siberia, Brdy, Bohemian Forest, western Šumava.

From Albrechtice nad Vltavou you can get to the lookout tower along the green tourist sign, a path about 3 km long. Car parking is possible above Všetečí at the crossroads between Temelín and Albrechtice and the forest road. You must then return a little back to the village of Všeteč, along the forest until you see a green tourist sign. Below the top, follow the blue tourist sign to the tower.

The lookout tower is open from May to October from 1 pm to 3 pm, always on the 10th, 20th and last day of the month. The first weekend of the month is also open in May and October. From June to September, it is also open on all weekends.

In 1931, the first building was built in Vysoké Kamýk. It was then a wooden measuring tower with five floors. However, this building later fell apart. Over the next ten years, another geodetic tower was built here, this time heptagonal and with eight floors. The surveying tower was here until the 1970s and also served as a lookout tower. Gradually, however, the lookout tower fell into disrepair and the view was overshadowed by the surrounding trees.

The idea of ​​rebuilding the lookout tower on Velký Kamýk came again only in 2006. At that time, T-Mobile came up with the idea of ​​increasing the original tower with a steel structure that would serve as a transmitter.

However, the Agency for Nature and Landscape Protection of the Czech Republic commented on the matter in such a way that the superstructure should also be used as a lookout tower and should be as similar in appearance as possible to the original building. Due to the weather, a wooden cladding was to be made, consisting of a heptagonal rising helix, which would consist of wooden prisms, so that the structure would allow the wind to pass through the body of the building.

The floor plan of the current building is also heptagonal, as in the original building. At the level of the attic of the brick building, it is finished with a reinforced concrete slab. It is anchored a heptagonal superstructure and a steel spindle staircase.

The basic element of the steel structure are piles with a depth of 6 meters and the threshold that connects them. A total of 70 tons of steel was used for the construction.

The superstructure was built from August to November 2011. The official opening of the lookout tower took place on May 1, 2012.

Author: Andrea Štyndlová