Abandoned Village of Fláje (Fleyh)

The largest and most important community in the whole area was Fleyh/Fláje, just under two kilometers flöha down from Willersdorf. The village was founded before 1346 and originally belonged to the Margraviate of Meissen. It was only when the borders were defined with the Treaty of Eger in 1459 that the Kingdom of Bohemia finally came into being. Fleyh became famous when the 18-kilometre-long raft ditch was built in the 17th century, which was used until 1872 to transport timber from the Bohemian Ore Mountain forests to the Freiberg mining company. In the lower village of Fleyh, the "Neugrabenföße" branched off a considerable part of the Flöha water so that the logs could be flushed to the Freiberger Mulde. Above the junction, the Flöha drove several mills in Fleyh.After 1945, the community suffered the same fate as its neighboring towns. The houses were destroyed in the 1950s. Only the wooden church built in 1658 could be saved and rebuilt in Ceský Jiretín/Georgendorf.A large part of the former settlement disappeared under water when the Fláje Dam was built in 1954-1963. The foundation walls of the church as well as the remains of individual houses can still be discovered on the banks of the reservoir (but be careful when exploring: the cellar entrances are partially overgrown by grass carpets and are therefore hardly recognizable!).

Sad story! Be sure to read the information boards!

The village was abandoned with the construction of the dam (ended in 1962), the village church moved to Český Jiřetin. The villagers used to live mainly from forestry.