Panonian grove under the Mount of Olives in Mikulov 

The Holy Hill in the town of Mikulov is our country' s  unique example of culture landscape, where natural and historical treasures are unified and the human work resonate with respect to the nature. From spiritual point of view the Holy Hill was composed as the stations of the cross. The southwest part of the Holly hill bears the name of the Mount of Olives and at its foot is a spot know as the Lower Little Meadow, characterized by occurence of protected plants.

Just at the Holy Hill the rare remnants of the original thermophilic oak woods with pubescent oak, cornel and Mahaleb cherry can be found. Uniqueness is presented by an open canopy, accompanied by open forest meadows and forest rims. This type of open forests - Panonian groves (colloquially reffered to as forest steppe) is the pride of Mikulov. They are frequent goal of researchers and visitors. Unfortunately its natural structure was disturbed by unskilled interventions in the past and now the municipality cooperate with a number of specialists and associations in order to at least partly restore the original face of the site.

The dissertation of Ms. Frantiska Satna, of the Mendel university, Faculty of Horticulture at Lednice, published in 2012, was the fundament and inspiration for the project of reinstatement of close-to-nature state of former agrestic limestone quarry. Her work " The restoration of the park under the Mount of Olives in Mikulov) solved possible changes in tha area.

The complete project includes elimination of ill and unsuitable trees and bushes, planting trees, shrubs and mixture of grasses and herbs that match the habitat. The long-term goal is to recreate typical features of open pubescent oak wood with cornel and Mahaleb cherry on limestone outcrops consisting of unique rock steppe vegetation. The area will be supplemented by benches and panels with history and natural science information.

 The whole project called " Panonian grove under the Mount of Olives -  the reminiscences of the Garden of Gethsemane" is a work result of the team of specialists. The leader of the project is the Lower Morava Biosphere Reserve, with cooperation of the Palava Protected Landscape Area Administration and the Regional Office of the Nature Conservation Agency in Brno.

The list of project participants include the Mikulov municipality, Mrs. Milada Rigasova, the plant scientist of the Regional museum at Mikulov, Mrs. Lenka Rabusicova of the  Palava Protected Landscape Area Administration Office and the Regional Office of the Nature Conservation Agency in Brno and Mr. Jan Vybiral, the director of the Lower Morava Biosphere Reserve.

The project is made possible thanks to financial support of MND, a.s. , co-founder of the Lower Morava Biosphere Reserve, public benefit company and one of the largest private donors for financing nature conservation and sustainable development  related projects in the south Moravia region.