Chýnov Caves

The Chýnov Cave was discovered in 1863 while working in a peasant quarry. It was opened to the public in 1868, as the first cave in today's Czech Republic.

In its bowels you can admire the colorful alternation of colored amphibolites and limestones, but unlike other karst caves, you will not find a distinctive stalactite decoration here. Only in the Concurrent and Malovecká corridors there are several smaller stalactites and stalagmites, but they do not exceed a length of 10 cm. There are only sinter and nickamine coatings on the rocks.

The cave system is about 1400 m long, but the total extent has not yet been determined. It is over 80 m deep. In inaccessible parts, there are permanently flooded areas with quartz drusen. An underground stream with a flow in the range of 6 - 13 l / s flows through it, which is lost at the western end of the drain siphon. The water temperature is 8.7 ° C. Together with the nearby nature reserve Pacova hora, the cave is an important mineralogical locality, where more than 60 species of minerals have been discovered and described.

In addition to the algae bat, which has its largest natural wintering ground in the Czech Republic and in Europe, a large bat, bearded bat or eared bat has also settled here. A total of 9 types of aircraft were observed here. Apart from them, the caves are also inhabited by snails, such as turf skates or round wrinkles, and insects from the insects by the dark crusader spider, which was artificially planted here.

According to legend, the cave was discovered by the rocker Vojtěch Rytíř, who lost a hammer in one of the cracks during work. To get him back, he was forced to stretch into a narrow space that was gradually expanding, but he did not dare to continue.
You can get to Chýnovská Cave by following the blue tourist sign, leading from Planá nad Lužnicí through the Turovecký Forest Nature Park. During the 40-minute tour, you will walk a 220 m long circuit with the lowest point of the route at a depth of 42 m.

Author: Marie Bukovinská