Heinrich Lumpe

16. 2. 1859 – 22. 2. 1936 

It is said that passion for protecting birdlife shown by the Ústí wholesaler Heinrich Lumpe was strong enough to soften the heart even of the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. In Italy he was awarded the honorary title of “Father of European birdlife”. In Ústí nad Labem, in the midst of that industrial metropolis, he established Central Europe’s first bird reserve in 1908, which after the Second World War was converted into the zoo we see today. 

 

Heinrich Lumpe was one of the first nature conservationists in the Czech lands. This new movement emerged in response to the adverse impact that industrialisation had on the environment. As an apprentice Lumpe moved away from his home village of Doubice in Bohemian Switzerland to the industrial centre of the region, Ústí nad Labem, where he later took over his uncle’s wholesale ironmonger business. In 1908 he co-founded Nordbömische Wasserbaugesellschaft (North Bohemian Water Construction Company), which, for example, laid the water pipeline up to the country’s highest mountain, Sněžka. He donated much of his profits to charity.
Lumpe’s main area of interest, however, was the protection of birdlife, the massive decline of which he saw as the first alarming proof of how industry was damaging the environment. From 1908, at enormous cost, Lumpe set up the first Central European birdlife reserve on the desolate slope of Mariánská skála rock, not far from the centre of Ústí nad Labem. As of 1928 experts found evidence of 81 species of birds there. 
Lumpe, who had no natural science background himself, worked with some leading experts, particularly the ornithologist Karel Janda, later the founder and director of the Prague zoo. The Ústí reserve, known as the Lumpepark, became the leading tourist attraction in the region. It was visited by as many as 60 thousand people a year. Lumpe also did a lot of work to promote birdlife protection and played an important role in protecting animals throughout Europe. He co-founded the World Association for the Protection of Birds (1931) and, together with other European figures, persuaded the Italian dictator B. Mussolini to include Italy in the ban on hunting songbirds. For his efforts Italian conservationists awarded him the title of “Father of European birdlife” (1933). His work also earned him an honorary doctorate of sciences at the University of Greifswald.
He died while staying at the spa in Dubí, where he drowned in an unfortunate accident. After 1945 the Lumpepark became a public park, which was officially transformed into a zoo in 1949.

 

References

Krsek, M.: Heinrich Lumpe, „Otec evropského ptactva“ a jeho význam v dobové ochraně přírody (diplomová práce). FF UJEP: Ústí nad Labem 2009.
Marx, W.: Heinrich Lumpe, Leben und Wirken eines Natur- und Menschenfreundes. Ústí nad Labem 1922.

mk, jam