Czech Republic is currently experiencing a lookout tower renaissance

Unrealized design of the lookout tower on Velký Kosíř (design: Studio NEW WORK)

Prague - Lookout towers are a phenomenon in the Czech Republic that has particularly experienced a significant revival in recent years. The most lookout towers were built at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries in connection with the boom of various beautification societies, and many of those architecturally unique "witnesses of past times" later underwent reconstruction. New observation structures are also being built in large numbers today, most of which are telecommunications towers that also serve as lookout towers. One of these new, modern buildings is the Romanka lookout tower near the village of Hrubý Jeseník near Nymburk, which is the lowest lookout tower in the Czech Republic. It was ceremonially opened ten years ago, on March 28, 2003.
     However, the concept of a lookout tower cannot be completely unambiguously defined, and opinions on its definition vary. According to expert and author of several books on lookout towers Jan Nouza, a lookout tower should be "a viewing structure created by human activity, which is intended or additionally modified for the purpose of sightseeing, with a viewing space located at least a few meters above the surrounding terrain, accessible to the general public (even if only during a certain period of time or historically) and recognized as a lookout tower by general awareness." According to lookout tower expert Vladimír Pohorecký, a "classical" lookout tower is "a tower that was built for the tourist public for the purpose of viewing."

Selection of records and curiosities about lookout towers in the Czech Republic:

Tallest lookout tower
The highest lookout platform is at an altitude of 93 meters on the Žižkov Television Tower in Prague, which measures a total of 216 meters. The tallest wooden lookout tower is the fifty-two meter high Bohdanka, which was opened in 2011 and is located near the village of Bohdaneč in the Kutnohorsko region.

Lookout tower on Boubín

Highest positioned lookout tower
The twenty-one meter high wooden lookout tower on Boubín in the Šumava mountains is located at an altitude of 1362 meters above sea level and is the highest positioned lookout tower in the Czech Republic. The highest point in the Czech Republic is the tip of a 162-meter-high television transmitter on Praděd in the Jeseníky mountains (1491 m).

Lowest positioned lookout tower
The modern iron lookout tower Romanka, which also serves as a telecommunications tower and was built on an artificially created hill near the village of Hrubý Jeseník near Nymburk, is at an altitude of 205 meters the lowest positioned lookout tower in the Czech Republic. Nevertheless, it offers a decent circular view of the Elbe Lowland, Ještěd, the ridges of the Iron Mountains, and on a clear day, the Krkonošsko Mountains are also visible.

Oldest lookout tower
The oldest lookout tower in the Czech Republic is on Kleť above Český Krumlov. The tower was commissioned by Prince Josef Jan Schwarzenberg and was completed in 1825.
The oldest accessible viewing structure is the Minaret, located in the Lednice-Valtice Area in southern Moravia. It is 60 meters high and was built in 1802. It is among the tallest structures of its kind in non-Islamic countries.

Northernmost lookout tower
The "Queen of the North" is the stone "Tančící" near Mikulášovice in the Šluknov Hook.

Hláska on Kraví hora in the Novohradské mountains

Southernmost lookout tower
The former military lookout on Kraví hora in the Novohradské mountains, which was converted into a lookout tower in 2001.

Westernmost lookout tower
The massive 34-meter-high stone lookout tower on Háj near Aš became a popular excursion spot for tourists shortly after its opening in 1904. According to local tradition, it is said that "whoever hasn't been to Háj hasn't been to Aš."

Easternmost lookout tower
The iron lookout tower on the border mountain Velké Čantoryje in the Beskids. The lookout tower is located only a few meters from the Polish border and is predominantly visited by Polish tourists who can take a cable car just below the summit.

Unconventionally designed lookout towers
Krásenský vrch - the stone tower near Krásno not far from Horní Slavkov in Sokolov is often referred to as the most peculiar lookout tower in the country, thanks to the spiral staircase that unusually leads along the outer perimeter of the twenty-five meter high tower.
Bukovanský mill - serves as a lookout tower near Bukovany by Kyjov in Hodonín, a recently built replica of a windmill.
Hraniční vrch - an original iron lookout tower with two viewing platforms on two towers, which are interconnected by an eighteen-meter bridge, was created in 2011 near the town of Albrechtice in the Bruntál region.
The treetops walk at Lipno - a wooden observation tower is part of a 675-meter-long wooden trail that leads in the treetops near the Lipno dam. It was built last year and boasts the longest dry toboggan run in the Czech Republic, measuring 52 meters.