Lenora - English Info

At the confluence of the Warm Vltava (Teplá Vltava) and Řasnice under the majestic slopes of Boubín Mountain lies the parish of Lenora at 786 m above sea-level. At present it has around 830 inhabitants - including the hamlets of Vlčí Jámy, Houžná a Zátoň. The Vltava and glass are the two chief phenomenoms, which gave birth to this characteristic Šumava community.

History

The history of Lenora is very closely connected with the history of the local glassworks. The glassworks in Lenora was one of the last to be founded in the Šumava region. It was founded by Jan Meyer in1834. Jan, who was the youngest of Josef’s three sons, took over the glassworks in Vimperk in 1829. When that proved insufficient to cover the demand for its products, he started to think about building a new glassworks. He chose a place for it beneath Boubín in the Zátoň region, on the south west slope of the Ptáčník wood by the Vltava. The finished glassworks was named Eleonorenhain, after Eleonora, wife of Jan Adolf of Schwarzenberk, the owner of the estate. In the Czech translation it is “Eleonořin háj”. Later the name of the glassworks and of the parish, which had started to grow up in its vicinity were Czechicized to their present form. Lenora was settled with glassworkers, who came from different glassworks in the Czech-Austrian borderland. The glassworks in Lenora reached a peak at the end of the 19th century, when the Kralik family became the new owners. The laying down of the railway line from Strakonice to Volary permitted the faster marketing of Lenora glass. The high quality and artistic level of the products of the resident glassblowers and cutters made headway on the world market as well. The glassworks exported its products to a number of European and Non-European countries, mostly to the USA, France, Belgium and Italy. Mainly cut or painted crystal glass and also decorative pot-metal glass were exported. In the second half of the 1990s, however, the glass works unfortunately ceased production. In an exhibition about glass-making at the village hall visitors can get acquainted with samples of Lenora glass. Recently the small Barbora glass works at the periphery of the parish has resumed the glass-making tradition.

Environs

 The history of Lenora is very closely connected with the history of the local glassworks. The glassworks in Lenora was one of the last to be founded in the Šumava region. It was founded by Jan Meyer in1834. Jan, who was the youngest of Josef’s three sons, took over the glassworks in Vimperk in 1829. When that proved insufficient to cover the demand for its products, he started to think about building a new glassworks. He chose a place for it beneath Boubín in the Zátoň region, on the south west slope of the Ptáčník wood by the Vltava. The finished glassworks was named Eleonorenhain, after Eleonora, wife of Jan Adolf of Schwarzenberk, the owner of the estate. In the Czech translation it is “Eleonořin háj”. Later the name of the glassworks and of the parish, which had started to grow up in its vicinity were Czechicized to their present form. Lenora was settled with glassworkers, who came from different glassworks in the Czech-Austrian borderland. The glassworks in Lenora reached a peak at the end of the 19th century, when the Kralik family became the new owners. The laying down of the railway line from Strakonice to Volary permitted the faster marketing of Lenora glass. The high quality and artistic level of the products of the resident glassblowers and cutters made headway on the world market as well. The glassworks exported its products to a number of European and Non-European countries, mostly to the USA, France, Belgium and Italy. Mainly cut or painted crystal glass and also decorative pot-metal glass were exported. In the second half of the 1990s, however, the glass works unfortunately ceased production. In an exhibition about glass-making at the village hall visitors can get acquainted with samples of Lenora glass. Recently the small Barbora glass works at the periphery of the parish has resumed the glass-making tradition.

Sport, Tourism

Lenora as well as the surrounding landscape is touristically very attractive. It offers all visitors numerous opportunities for active entertainment. There are numerous cycling and walking trails leading to the beauties of the Šumava from Lenora. In addition to this, Lenora is well known to water sports fans as a starting point for canoing down the Vltava. Under favourable weather conditions, the Vltava is navigable from the concrete bridge across the camp site, where the river bed creates beautiful meanders. In winter there are well-maintained cross country skiing tracks on the route to and from Lenora - Zátoň -Kubova Huť.