Šumava (Bohemian Forest)

Declared in 1991 after the fall of the Iron Curtain, Šumava is the largest national park in the Czech Republic and forms, together with the adjoining Bavarian Forest in Germany, the most extensive continuous protected forest area in Central Europe, nicknamed "the green heart of Europe". During the Cold War, the strictly militarised border strip between Czechoslovakia and West Germany that ran through the area paradoxically prevented any development or intensive forestry for more than four decades, leaving a legacy of exceptionally well-preserved forest once Europe was reunited.