Telnice Observatory

1929–1945 

All that can be seen today of the stone building that once housed an observatory and meteorological station are traces of the foundations in the middle of the forest. The observatory was built in the Ore Mountains village of Telnice near Ústí nad Labem in 1929 by the German University in Prague. During the war the German Upper School in Duchcov used it for its research when measuring the Earth’s magnetic field for mining purposes. 

 

The observatory in the Telnice part of the municipality of Liboňov (Liebesdorf) was built at 480 metres above sea level in 1929 by Vereinigung von Freunden der Sternwarte der Deutsche Universität in Prag (Association of Friends of the Observatory at the German University in Prague). This was a well-built sandstone structure designed by the Ústí builder Franz Eis. The observatory had a sliding hemispherical roof for observing the stars and a concrete pillar topped with a 200 kg marble slab to support the apparatus. In 1931 it was equipped with instruments transferred from the historical observatory in the Clementinum, which had closed down. The equipment included a telescope with a lens 160 mm in diameter, two thermometers, rain gauge and a snow gauge. 40 metres away from the main building was a cellar, kitted out for observing magnetic declination. Its first staff were observers, Dr. J. Mrazek and Dr. R. Tschilschke.

During the Second World War the building was used by the German Upper School in Duchcov for observing the Earth’s magnetic field during the course of mine surveying work in the Podkrušnohorské district. The school purchased and installed a chronometer to accurately determine the astronomical azimuth of the mines and in April 1942 began the first declining measurements. In December of the following year a declination variometer designed and built by the school was installed in the cellar, at which point test observations of magnetic declination variability began, with readings taken three times a day. After the liberation Charles University took all the equipment away to its observatory in Ondřejov. The Telnice observatory was taken over by the State Forests enterprise, which rented it out as a recreational site from the early nineteen fifties. The buildings were later occupied by the Raraši tramping community. However, after 1970 later tenants let the observatory fall into disrepair. In 1977 amateur astronomers from Ústí even considered having it repaired, but were unable to rent it and all that remains are the foundations of the original building. 

 

References

Köhler, R.: Die Sternwarte in Liebsdorf – Tellnitz, Beiträge zur Heimatkunde des Aussig-Karbitzer Bezirkes, 10, č. 4, Ústí nad Labem 1930, s. 145─149.
Rucký, P.; Bureš, J.; Mikušek, E.: Sondy do dějin horních škol v Duchcově. Duchcov 2019, s. 92─93.
Slavík, V.; Körner, J.: Na Ústecku byla kdysi hvězdárna…, Orion – občasník AK při ODKP v Ústí nad Labem, 1979, č. 2, s. 21─25.

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