The walls of a lost building • Prostřední Bečva • the Kněhyně – Čertův mlýn reserve
Two low walls by the path - all that people left behind on the ridge.
In the saddle between Kněhyně and Čertův mlýn, a short way from the red-waymarked trail from Pustevny, stands the dry stone masonry of the ground floor of a lost building. Local accounts say it was a hunting lodge of the archbishopric forests, called Greiffka. There is, however, no written record of it - the walls are all that has survived.
Why come here
According to the accounts, the lodge belonged to the hunting grounds of the Olomouc archbishopric and took its name from the forester Greiff. All that is certain is what stands there: the masonry of the ground floor, laid dry, without mortar.
When to go
The walls stand right by the path, but in dense vegetation they are easy to miss. Without leaves and ferns, outside the growing season, they are easier to see from the path.
Not to be missed
One wall still has an opening with flat stones above it. Beyond a gap in the undergrowth stands the remnant of a second wall.
First the manorial hunting grounds the lodge stood in. Then the war that brought other people into these forests. And finally the reserve, which people left altogether.
Manorial hunting grounds
In the 19th century the forests on the ridge of Kněhyně and Čertův mlýn belonged to the Olomouc archbishopric, which administered them from the Hukvaldy estate. The ridge was thus a manorial hunting ground - and in the saddle between the two summits a lodge is said to have gone up in the second half of the 19th century. It was named Greiffka after Greiff, the manager of the archbishopric forests.
The archbishopric really did build in the Beskids: a few kilometres from here, in Bílá, Archbishop František Saleský Bauer had a wooden hunting lodge built in 1906 as a summer retreat with shooting in the surrounding forests. It still stands and is still in use; Greiffka is a generation older - and what it looked like is unknown.
What we do not know about the lodge
No written record of Greiffka has survived. All that is known is the approximate time it was built - the second half of the 19th century - and even the claim that it was a hunting lodge of the archbishopric forests rests on nothing but local accounts.
The masonry is thus the only witness without an intermediary: the outer walls of the ground floor, laid dry, that is without mortar. Above one opening the flat stones still hold. How many storeys the lodge had, what it was made of above and what it looked like cannot be read from the walls.
Autumn 1944
During the war other people settled in these forests - not to live, but to hide. In the autumn of 1944, partisans of the 1st Czechoslovak Jan Žižka Partisan Brigade built bunkers in the forests below Kněhyně. Reminders of those months stand by the waymarked path below Kněhyně: a short way from Greiffka a stone with a plaque commemorating the brigade's fighting, and further on a memorial to the partisan Růžena Valentová, who was killed here on 6 November 1944.
The brigade's whole story is told by the Partisan memorial in the Makov pass, and the stops along the path by the Kněhyně page. No source says the partisans made any use of Greiffka's walls.
Today
The area in which the walls stand has been the Kněhyně – Čertův mlýn national nature reserve since 19 January 1989. Nobody lives here and visitors keep strictly to the marked trails - the summit of Kněhyně is completely closed as the core of the reserve.
Only the masonry is left of the lodge - and it too is falling apart. Moss, roots and ferns grow through the joints, flat stones slide off the top of the wall and fallen trunks have settled across the corners. The remains of the walls, though, stand right by the red waymarks, so you can look at them without a step off the path.
The masonry is passed by the red-waymarked trail from Pustevny, which descends beyond the summit through the saddle towards Kněhyně - the whole walk from the saddle passes Mořské oko. There is no information board by the walls, though: the Čertův mlýn nature trail turns off the ridge towards Martiňák.
Timeline
2nd half of the 19th c.
The forests belong to the Olomouc archbishopric and the ridge is a hunting ground. According to local accounts, a lodge stands here at that time, called Greiffka after Greiff, the manager of the archbishopric forests. No written record survives.
1906
Archbishop František Saleský Bauer has a wooden hunting lodge built in Bílá - evidence of how the archbishopric managed its land and hunted in these mountains.
autumn 1944
The 1st Czechoslovak Jan Žižka Partisan Brigade hides in the forests below Kněhyně. A stone with a plaque and a memorial to the partisan Růžena Valentová (killed on 6 November 1944) still stand by the red waymarks.
The brigade's story19 January 1989
The Kněhyně – Čertův mlýn reserve is created (just under 199 ha). Disturbance is restricted and walking is limited to marked trails.
today
The remains of the walls stand right by the red-waymarked trail from Pustevny to Kněhyně. The undergrowth is gradually swallowing them. About 497 m to the south stands Čertův stůl.
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Head east from the saddle, with Radhošť behind you. A short way from the junction by Libušín, the small lake Mořské oko lies hidden in the forest – a refuge for newts and other amphibians.
The walk to the junction with a rest area is easy. The red-marked trail then climbs more steeply for the last kilometre and a half or so along a stony forest path. Just below the junction are clearings kept open by grazing sheep for three hundred years.
The red-marked trail runs across the summit of the highest mountain in the Zlín Region (1,206 m), which is accessible on the marked trail. A short way below, at the end of a 100-metre fissure, lies Čertův stůl, a stone slab on two plinths. No marked trail leads to it, however, and visitors must stay on marked trails in the reserve, so you can view it in the 360° panorama.
Beyond the summit, the red-marked trail descends into the saddle towards Kněhyně. About 497 m north of Čertův stůl, the dry stone walls of a former hunting lodge stand right beside the path. Dense undergrowth makes them easy to miss – look for low walls on both sides of the path.
You can continue towards Kněhyně, the higher summit in the national nature reserve. Visitors must stay on marked trails; none leads to the summit of Kněhyně, which is closed. The longer option is shown with a dashed line on the map.
The whole route runs through a national nature reserve - visitors must stay on the marked trails. The masonry is right by the red waymarks, so there is no need to turn off anywhere to see it.
The walls are low and blend into the forest in dense vegetation. They are best seen outside the growing season - look for the line of stone to the left and right of the path.
The masonry is laid dry and has been loosened by fallen trunks - the stones slide. Look at the walls from the path.
Refreshments and toilets are only at Pustevny. The water from the U Partyzánky spring below Kněhyně is not tested.
The masonry stands right by the red waymarks. The branch path to the original spring and cairn in the core of the reserve has been closed - do not go further off the trail.
The remains of a lost building in the saddle between Kněhyně and Čertův mlýn, which local accounts say was a hunting lodge of the archbishopric forests. What is left of it is the dry stone masonry of the outer walls of the ground floor.
According to the accounts, from Greiff, the manager of the archbishopric forests. The forests around Kněhyně and Čertův mlýn belonged to the Olomouc archbishopric and the ridge was its hunting ground.
The accounts place it in the second half of the 19th century, but that is not documented. When it was lost is unknown.
They are low stone walls laid dry, without mortar, to the left and right of the path. One wall still has an opening with flat stones above it. In dense vegetation the whole place is easy to walk past - it is best seen outside the growing season.
Yes. The walls stand right by the red waymarks, so there is no need to leave the path - which is also the rule in the Kněhyně – Čertův mlýn national nature reserve. From Pustevny past Mořské oko and over the summit of Čertův mlýn it is about 3.5 kilometres.
The same red-waymarked trail crosses the summit of Čertův mlýn; just below it lies Čertův stůl, a stone slab on two plinths at the end of a hundred-metre fissure - though that itself is off the marked trail. Beyond the saddle rises Kněhyně, whose summit is closed. Below the ridge runs the seven-kilometre Čertův mlýn nature trail with nine stops, from Martiňák past Mořské oko to Pustevny, but it does not turn off to Greiffka's walls.
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The mountain above the saddle
The highest summit of the Zlín Region is opening up through deep-seated creep; Čertův stůl sits at the end of the largest fissure. Greiffka is on the same red trail, 497 m to the north.
Přejít na stránku →The summit across the saddle
Kněhyně (1,257 m), just beyond the saddle with Greiffka's walls - its summit is closed as the core of the reserve. On the way to it stand the partisan brigade's memorials and the U Partyzánky spring.
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The reserve the walls lie in
The reserve protects both summits above 1,200 m and what lies beneath them - pseudokarst and remnants of old-growth forest. It also decides where you may walk here.
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The brigade's story
The memorial to the 1st Czechoslovak Jan Žižka Partisan Brigade in the Makov pass - the unit that hid in bunkers below Kněhyně in the autumn of 1944.
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