History of the project

The idea of establishing an institution dedicated to the extinct villages of the Bohemian Central Highlands had been maturing for several years. At the end of 2022, it turned into a dream. "To make your dream come true, you must pursue it" has been the motto of the association since its foundation in 2016. The following lines document this journey towards the MUZOOS dream.

January 2023

A core working group was formed, bringing together individuals interested in the idea of an institution focused on extinct villages:

Petr Karlíček, Director of the Ústí nad Labem City Archives

Martin Krsek, Head of the Historical Department of the Ústí nad Labem City Museum

Petr Kůstka, Mayor of Malečov

Zdeněk Petr, Chairman of the association

First, the association’s chairman approached Petr Karlíček, who has long been involved in research on extinct villages. Through him, Martin Krsek was also contacted. At the same time, the Mayor of Malečov was approached and offered the premises of the existing Cultural House (KD) in Rýdeč for the institution's needs. KD Rýdeč is suitable for the institution for several reasons:

• The entire building and adjacent land are owned by the municipality.
• The building is spacious and currently underutilized.
• It is not located in a large city but in a small village, roughly in the middle of the Bohemian Central Highlands.
• It lies on a relatively busy road connecting Ústí nad Labem with Litoměřice.
• The road is maintained in winter, and Rýdeč has excellent bus connections to Ústí nad Labem.
• During summer and suitable weather, the route through Rýdeč is frequently used by cyclists.

March to May 2023

Several working and preparatory meetings were held during this period. Apart from the meetings, on 27 March 2023 at the Ústí nad Labem City Archives, Zdeněk Petr and Petr Karlíček met to refine and complete the documents for the presentation that Zdeněk Petr gave on 4 April 2023 at the meeting of the Council of the North Bohemian Association of Municipalities (SeSO), which took place in the meeting room of the Ústí nad Labem City Hall.

On 11 April 2023, Petr Karlíček, Martin Krsek, and Zdeněk Petr visited KD Rýdeč to discuss the possibilities of MUZOOS, the project's viability, and its sustainability. Martin Krsek’s perspective was particularly valuable, both as a politician from Ústí nad Labem and as an employee of the Ústí nad Labem City Museum.

The following day, 12 April 2023, after prior agreement, a meeting took place at the headquarters of 3+1 Architects Ltd. between Zdeněk Petr and architect Pavel Plánička, who is also the managing director of the company. The goal was to engage a well-established and reputable architectural office in Ústí nad Labem for the preparation of an initial study, which would serve to assess potential solutions and facilitate discussions with the relevant state administration authorities. As the MUZOOS concept gained interest, on 17 April, 3+1 Architects submitted a quotation for the preparation of the study, which, if approved, would be funded by the municipality of Malečov.

On 31 May 2023, a meeting of the Malečov Municipal Council and councillors took place in the Rýdeč Community Hall, where Zdeněk Petr presented the MUZOOS project. The subsequent vote clearly supported the project.

At the end of April, cooperation was established with the Department of Spatial Planning of the Regional Office of the Ústí nad Labem Region for the creation of a map of extinct villages, settlements, and isolated places within the area defined by the boundary of the České středohoří Protected Landscape Area.

June 2023

On 7 June 2023, the MUZOOS map was launched. On the same day, a meeting was held at the Department of History of the Faculty of Arts, UJEP, facilitated by Petr Hrubý, Director of the National Institute of Natural Heritage ÚOP Ústí nad Labem, with the aim of securing professional support for the MUZOOS project. The meeting was attended by: Petr Hrubý, Jakub Pátek (Deputy Head of the Department), Táňa Šimková (Head of the Centre for Documentation and Digitization of Cultural Heritage), and Zdeněk Petr. Discussions included potential collaboration and the involvement of students in the research aspects of the project.

On 14 June 2023, the Malečov Municipal Council approved the price offer for the study by 3+1 Architects by resolution.

On 23 June 2023, a meeting was held at the Department of History of the Faculty of Arts of UJEP, attended by Jakub Pátek, Kamil Podroužek (Deputy Head of the Documentation Centre), Martin Krsek, and Zdeněk Petr to clarify the possibilities of collaboration on the MUZOOS project. On 25 June 2023, Zdeněk Petr met in Malečov with Petr Novák, Head of the Department of Geoinformatics at the Faculty of Environmental Sciences, UJEP, to discuss potential cooperation in developing the MUZOOS project. Additionally, contact was established with Jiří Riezner from the Department of Geography at the Faculty of Science, UJEP, with the understanding that a meeting between Riezner and Petr would take place in the second half of August 2023. Jiří Riezner expressed interest in collaboration, including the possibility of involving students in the research aspects of the project.

28. 2. 2024

Finally, the Study was completed on 28 February 2024. It is a copyright license of the architectural studio 3+1 architekti. The study will be used for discussions with the relevant state administration authorities, politicians of the Ústí nad Labem Region, the management of UJEP, etc. It is likely that minor changes will be made to the external appearance of the building and the internal layout. But the idea remains...

March, April 2024

During March, the Study was reviewed successively by the MUZOOS group (Karlíček, Krsek, Kůstka, Petr, Plánička) and AOPK ČR, Regional Department Administration of the Czech Central Highlands Protected Landscape Area. Subsequently, architect Plánička was asked to modify the external appearance of the main building in accordance with the comments. Key modifications: roofing made of baked tiles ("beaver"), windows in the shape of a cross, replacement of the cordon cornice on the east and south sides with a different shade and plaster. The result can be seen in the following drawings (note: the view in axonometric perspectives does not yet have the window cross detailing completed).

3. 10. 2024

On 3 October 2024, a meeting of the chairman of the association with Jiří Riezner from the Department of Geography at the Faculty of Science, UJEP, took place in Ústí nad Labem. The rules for selecting subjects to be addressed in the first round were agreed upon. The selection is based on the list of "Subjects of Interest," created by comparing the Imperial Mandatory Prints of SK from 1843 with the current map. Among other things, it identified entities whose existence must currently be verified. This is precisely what Jiří Riezner is working on.

Additionally, the structure of information for each ZOOS was modified by agreement (see Inventory). On this occasion, Jiří Riezner proposed a new name for the MUZOOS project (where ZOOS represents the first letters of "vanished villages, settlements, and solitudes"). He suggested "MUZAS," where "ZAS" stands for "vanished settlements." However, it is more likely that the name MUZOOS will remain, as the project remains dedicated to extinct settlements.

2. 12. 2024

On 2 December 2024, the municipality of Malečov submitted an application for a subsidy to the Regional Office in Ústí nad Labem for the preparation of project documentation for the building permit to reconstruct the existing cultural house in Rýdeč into a MUZOOS building, following the study prepared by the architectural studio 3+1 architekti (see above). The application also included a request for a subsidy to prepare the implementation documentation. The total cost of preparing both types of documentation is specified in the application as being close to CZK 2 million. If the subsidy is granted, a tender will be launched to refine the required amount and select a suitable contractor.

17. 3. 2025

On 17 March 2025, the municipality of Malečov received a rejection of the application from the Department of Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Transformation of the Ústí nad Labem Regional Office due to limited financial resources.

31. 3. 2025

On 31 March 2025, after previous electronic communication, a meeting of the chairman of the association with Peter Meyer from the Department of Geography of the Faculty of Arts took place at UJEP. The principles were clarified and the further course of work was agreed upon. This will actually be a pilot project for MUZOOS, as the 3D model will depict the extinct village of Babiny I. 

14. 2. and 2. 4. 2025

On the above mentioned dates, after previous electronic communication, meetings with Zdeněk Kučera from the Department of Social Geography and Regional Development took place at Charles University in Prague. Zdeněk Kučera will be processing data for the MUZOOS project for individual parts of the entire Bohemian Central Highlands over the years from 1856 to the present. With different focuses: e.g. population, ethnicity, religious composition, share of agricultural land, forests.

24. 4. a 12. 5. 2025

On 24 April 2025, a meeting was held at the Regional Office of the Ústí nad Labem Region with the Councillor for Culture and Regional Development, Vlastimil Skala, consisting of Skala (Councillor), Krsek (Senator), Kohl (Head of the Department of Culture and Heritage Protection) and Petr (Chairman of the Association), who presented the MUZOOS project to those present. Subsequently, the possibilities of subsidy programs that could cover the partial financing of the project documentation were identified. In addition, a meeting was held at the Regional Office between the Chairman of the Association and the staff of the Department of Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Transformation, Lukáš Kuda and Michaela Janatková.

16. 5. 2025

A meeting between the Mayor of Malečov, the President of the Association and Marek Hart, Walbert Schmirler from the ICUK (Innovation Centre of the Ústí Region) took place at the Malečov Municipal Office. The way of further possible financing of the MUZOOS project documentation was discussed.

22. 6. 2025

Meeting with Jiří Padevět, director of the Academia publishing house, who is preparing an extensive publication on extinct municipalities throughout the Czech Republic (the book was published on October 24, 2025). Sources, selection criteria, scope, and organization of entries were discussed. The source material is the Statistical Lexicon of Municipalities in the Czechoslovak Republic, which contains data from the census of December 1, 1930 (Prague, Orbis, 1934). Among other things, it was agreed that the association could quote from the forthcoming publication with reference to the source. 

20. 10. 2025

Meeting with the mayor of Velké Březno, Zuzana Mendlová. Consultation on the procedure by which Velké Březno obtained a grant for the preparation of documentation for the construction of the Municipal House, including the modification of its surroundings. A grant could be obtained in a similar way for the preparation of documentation for the MUZOOS building in Rýdeč.

6. 11. 2025

A meeting was held at the Malečov Municipal Office between the mayor, Jan Pechek (designer at PKI PROJEKT, s. r. o.), and the chairman of the association. The outcome was a specification of the request for the submission of price offers from the designers approached for the preparation of project documentation for the MUZOOS building permit. The association chairman subsequently prepared such a specification. 

November, December 2025

After purchasing Jiří Padevět's three-volume work on extinct municipalities in the Czech Republic, taking into account Jiří Riezner's verification of extinct settlements (see note dated October 3, 2024), the association's chairman began work on refining and narrowing down the list of "subjects of interest" compiled in the first round by comparing SK CPO maps with current maps, in which 346 subjects were identified. Verification of the existence of the identified subjects reduced their number to 148. 

2. 12. 2025

Alexander Černý confirmed to the association's chairman his interest and support in documenting the extinct settlements of the Czech Central Mountains using a drone and camera.

15. 12. 2025

Pavel Matoušek from Ústí nad Labem handed over a pilot project for a 3D model of the extinct village of Babiny I. For more details, see the project "Babiny I - extinct village".

December 2025, January 2026

In the second half of December 2025, the chairman of the association prepared the documentation for a price inquiry for the preparation of project documentation for the building permit for the MUZOOS building in Rýdeč. After approval by the Municipal Council on January 26, 2026, three designers were subsequently approached with a request to submit price quotations, all in accordance with Act No. 134/2016 Coll. on public procurement.