6 – The remains of the Golden Road by Trampus’ cross
The Golden Road led here from today’s Modrava. After crossing the Modrava stream, it separated from today’s road to Březník alongside the stream (so called New Březník Way) and climbed steeply south. The remains of the old road can be found in a dense forest cover above Modrava, leading across a plateau alongside a green-marked tourist trail.
In this region, the Golden Road often follows the tarmac road from Modrava to Bučina
Several sections of the Golden Road have survived alongside the old Březník way. Specifically, it is one sunken lane, which splits in parts, gets closer and further away from today’s road, but still keeps within reasonable distance. Traces of the old road can be followed west from today’s green tourist trail while climbing the Modrava mountain (1157 m). But no remains survived on the following moorland-covered plateau with beautiful views upon the two peaks of Roklan and Luzný. They appear again during the descent towards Cikánská peat bog. From there a clear sunken lane appears and leads west towards a place called “By Trampus’ Cross”.
In this region, the Golden Road often follows the tarmac road from Modrava to Bučina
Area, nature, personalities, events
In the 16th century, Bavarian dukes began to compete in salt trade with the until then dominating Passau bishops and The Golden Road across Grafenau served them for delivering “Bavarian” salt from Alpine deposits to Bohemia. To emphasise their claim, they began to call the Golden Road the “true and age-old Golden Road” (recht uralt gulden Straß), in contrast to the Passau Golden Trail. The name “golden” then described four separate routes in Šumava – the three branches of the Passau Golden Trail and the Bavarian Golden Road. A recently found Bavarian mad from around the year 1574 informs us of the Road’s course. According to it, the Golden Road passed the Passau bridge across Donau and continued over the tollhouse “auf der Ries” to Ruderting and then to Tittling and Grafenau, from there to Skt. Oswald and then up towards the border mountain ridge with gallows below Luzný and further around “the big tree” on Bohemian lands, where the administration would pass from townsmen of Grafenau to townsmen of Kašperské Hory. The Road reached this final city by passing the village Gfülg (Horská Kvilda).
After the end of the Golden Road and the Golden Trail
On the old Březník way from Modrava to Březník, the Trampus’ cross stands in the place of the former village of Josefstadt. It was founded probably around 1800, after the land was bought by the prince of Schwarzenberg. It had around 14 houses for loggers. The village ceased to exist around 1883. The cross by the road was allegedly built by Augustin Trampus after he retired in 1847, other sources claim it was built by his children in the place where he had a stroke…He was the first of the family of foresters, which influenced forestry in the Czech, German and Austrian border regions for the next two centuries. A. Trampus worked for 19 years as a forest district manager in Březník.
In the 16th century, Bavarian dukes began to compete in salt trade with the until then dominating Passau bishops and The Golden Road across Grafenau served them for delivering “Bavarian” salt from Alpine deposits to Bohemia. To emphasise their claim, they began to call the Golden Road the “true and age-old Golden Road” (recht uralt gulden Straß), in contrast to the Passau Golden Trail. The name “golden” then described four separate routes in Šumava – the three branches of the Passau Golden Trail and the Bavarian Golden Road. A recently found Bavarian mad from around the year 1574 informs us of the Road’s course. According to it, the Golden Road passed the Passau bridge across Donau and continued over the tollhouse “auf der Ries” to Ruderting and then to Tittling and Grafenau, from there to Skt. Oswald and then up towards the border mountain ridge with gallows below Luzný and further around “the big tree” on Bohemian lands, where the administration would pass from townsmen of Grafenau to townsmen of Kašperské Hory. The Road reached this final city by passing the village Gfülg (Horská Kvilda).
After the end of the Golden Road and the Golden Trail
On the old Březník way from Modrava to Březník, the Trampus’ cross stands in the place of the former village of Josefstadt. It was founded probably around 1800, after the land was bought by the prince of Schwarzenberg. It had around 14 houses for loggers. The village ceased to exist around 1883. The cross by the road was allegedly built by Augustin Trampus after he retired in 1847, other sources claim it was built by his children in the place where he had a stroke…He was the first of the family of foresters, which influenced forestry in the Czech, German and Austrian border regions for the next two centuries. A. Trampus worked for 19 years as a forest district manager in Březník.