Úmyslovice combines a distinctive village layout with traces of its architectural and landscape history. At its heart is an extensive village green made up of an orchard, with the church standing in the middle. Other features include the history of St. Linhart, a short surviving section of the Polská cesta and evidence of vanished ponds.
Village Green and Centre
The buildings in Úmyslovice are clustered around the extensive village green, which consists of an orchard. The church stands in its middle. This layout gives the village a clearly recognisable centre: the orchard shapes the open green, while the church serves as its central landmark. For visitors staying in Úmyslovice, this village layout offers an engaging introduction to local history before they explore the individual architectural and landscape features.
St. Linhart and Places of Remembrance
St. Linhart is a Neoclassical building dating from 1812, which incorporates some masonry from an older church. The protected monument is not limited to the church building: the protected complex also includes the surrounding wall, the gate and the associated plots. Six gravestones survive from the church’s former cemetery. A plaque on the south wall of the nave commemorates J. F. Coulon de Thévenot, the inventor of French shorthand, who was buried here. There is also a monument to the victims of the First and Second World Wars in the centre of Úmyslovice. Together, these places offer insight into different layers of local history: architectural history, the cemetery and personal remembrance stand side by side without being reduced to a single period.
Polská cesta: A Short Section with a Wider Context
The surviving section of the Polská cesta, documented in 2023, leads west from Úmyslovice into the fields and ends after a few dozen metres. Strips of grass and rows of fruit trees line the path. It is considered a rare example of a landscape feature that survived elsewhere only until the 1950s. In 2024, a regional heritage journal placed the Polská cesta near Úmyslovice on the more recent, so-called northern variant of a long-distance route to Kladsko and onward to Poland. Two scales therefore come together: the surviving stretch itself is short, while its interpretation points to a larger historical long-distance route. Those interested in the cultural landscape will find a distinctive connection here between the path, the rows of fruit trees and the history of a regional route.
Traces of Former Ponds
The Blato pond no longer exists. It was also located within the cadastral area and municipality of Úmyslovice; near Úmyslovice, hollows in the terrain and banks survive as traces of the former pond. The historic Šembor pond is also part of the water landscape: it lay above the village, with a second dam edge opposite the village of Netřebice. This should be distinguished from the water basin created on the culverted stream that runs through the village centre. Úmyslovice thus features both traces of former ponds and a separate element of its present-day village design. The different forms help distinguish former bodies of water from the village’s architectural development.
Getting There and Planning Your Routes
According to the municipal planning status in 2024, a bus stop is located on the village green in the central part of Úmyslovice. Bus services on the route between Poděbrady, Dymokury and Městec Králové provide access to the village. Routes and timetables may change, so check the current connection before travelling. The 2024 planning status lists no marked hiking or cycling routes for the Úmyslovice area. If you would like to plan excursions along marked routes, check in advance which routes are currently available. The local sights offer a variety of themes: church and memorial history, the short stretch of the Polská cesta, or landscape features that point to former ponds.
Discover more destinations: Všechlapy, Kovanice, Chrást, Žitovlice, Hradčany, Kolaje, Odřepsy, Velenice
Return to the regional travel overview: Nymburk District.
