MLADEČ KARST
The Mladeč Karst forms isolated islets of Devonian limestones emerging from non-karstic rocks on the northern edge of the Bouzovská Highlands and from new sediments of the Morava River valley in the Hornomoravský úval area in the wider surroundings of the village of Mladeč west of the town of Litovel. Under the surface of the Třesín Hill (345 m a.s.l.), the Skalka Hill (335 m a.s.l.) and others, many caves were formed by water from ancient flows. The largest one is the Mladeč cave system, formerly also called Boček Hollow or Fürst Johanns Höhle.
MLADEČ CAVES
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They represent a predominantly horizontal and very broken labyrinth of corridors, domes and high chimneys with remarkable modelling of walls and ceilings, with stalactite and stalagmite decoration and with numerous block cave-ins, with some steep corridors which extend even below the level of the underground water
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They are one of the most important archaeological sites in the world and probably the oldest, largest and most northern settlements of the Cro-Magnon people in Europe, who lived here as long as 31 thousand years ago
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They have a total of 1,250 meters of corridors and halls with denivelation of 30 meters
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They were, after the cave-in of the entrance a very long time ago, rediscovered in about the year 1826 while quarrying stone; they have been open to the public since the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries and since 1911 they have been lit by electric light
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They have been protected by law since 1933 – now as the Třesín National Natural Monument (1933) and the Třesín nature monument (1993) in the Litovelské Pomoraví Protected Landscape Area and simultaneously as a cultural relic
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The cave tour is 380 metres long with a small archaeological exposition; the tour takes about 40 minutes
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There is a constant air temperature of around 8 °C (ca 46°F) and a relative air humidity of 95 %.
Ministry of the Environment
Mladečské Caves
