Zprávy památkové péče 2017, 77(5):535-545

The transformation of the Czech landscape in the first half of the 20th century as influenced by the systematic electrification of the country

Martin Boháč

The paper deals with the development of the high and extra-high voltage power grid in the first half of the 20th century and its impact on the transformation of the landscape of the Czech lands and Slovakia.
The construction of field and later long-distance high and extra-high voltage power lines in most countries was the second phase of industrialization through network systems (after the railway system and before motorways). High and extra-high voltage power lines, thanks to their tall steel construction and very high density, comparable perhaps only with the density of roads and highways, has very markedly transformed the industrialized landscape, with the Czech Republic and Czechoslovakia being no exception. The article focuses on the development of the construction of 110 kV networks on the territory of former Czechoslovakia in 1918-1945, when it formed the basis of these networks and when it brought about the most significant change of the landscape. Until then the country had not been affected by this type of infrastructure.
At that time, the first 110 kV lines - or 100,000 V as they were technically called at the time - were created as the backbone connectors of large power stations with significant power consumption centers and, to a certain extent, as the connecting lines of large power plants to provide a uniform supply of distant parts of the power grid. Given that these were new structures, being completely unique in the first years, these power lines formed a new landscaping element, unknown at the time. This was even more striking to the uninitiated observer, since they often passed through not only industrial areas, above all mining and urbanized areas, but also through rural areas with which they had no association. It should be noted that in 1926, at the time of the construction of the first Czechoslovak 100,000 V power line from Ervěnice to Prague, the systematic electrification of the countryside was first taking place, so in many cases lines could have been passing through villages that were not yet electrified. The more significant change took place in the years after World War II, when the 220 kV and 400 kV overhead networks were built. The 110 kV network was thickened, gradually losing its backbone character and becoming more of a distribution network serving the adjacent areas.
Unfortunately, long-distance high-voltage lines do not receive sufficient attention in the Czech Republic from the perspective of the technological history, and it is certainly necessary to preserve one of the existing 110 kV power lines as a technical monument. Ideally, it should be one of the sections of the Ervěnice-Prague power line from 1926 in the Central Bohemia Region.

Keywords: industrial landscape, electrification, development of the Czech lands at the beginning of the 20th century

Published: December 1, 2017  Show citation