Amerika – that is how they call a series of limestone quarries in Český kras in the Czech Republic (a protected landscape area not far from Prague). Some call it the Czech Grand Canyon, although comparing sizes of the two is like comparing sizes of the Earth and the Sun. The biggest quarry in the area is about 800 meters long and at places 200 meters wide. It is called Velká Amerika – Big America. It is followed by smaller quarries called Mexika (Mexico), Kanada (Canada), Malá Amerika (Small America) and about a dozen other small quarries that have all sorts of names – Owl Paradise, Vulture Quarry, Empty Pit and so on. The quarries are connected through a vast system of underground tunnels. Mining started here in 1900 in the two quarries that used to be located where Velká Amerika is today, and finished in 1964. Amerika is located just 10 kilometers away from Prague, and 2 from the famous Karlštejn castle.
Velka Amerika
Velká Amerika attracts many tourists. As it is forbidden to descend into the quarries, the way to the bottom of Velká Amerika is barred with many obstacles, ranging from wire fences to a solid steel gate that not many dare to climb due to the risk of falling into the abyss. So we can only enjoy the view from the top of the quarry. And the view is rather fantastic. Velká Amerika is often used by filmmakers. They even have constructed a small wooden bridge over the flooded part of the quarry. To the West of Velká Amerika there is a car parking.
Monument to the political prisoners at the top of Mexico quarry
Mexika – the second largest of the Amerika quarries. It is also known as Convicts’ Quarry. After WWII some captive German soldiers were working here. Between the years 1949 and 1953, during the communistic era, political prisoners were being sent there. That was one of the roughest communistic working camps in the country, and it was also called the Czech Muathausen or Limestone Hell Mořina (Mořina – that is how a nearby town is called). The political prisoners had usually been sent there after long processes of interrogations, during which they were kept in remand prisons, often for more than a year. They were working in the quarry in inhuman conditions, receiving daily punishments for not meeting the impossible quotas, which led to their complete exhaustion. The way from this hell led with high fevers and many injuries through a prison hospital in Prague’s Pankrac district. In five years more than 2000 political prisoners have gone through this hell.
Kanada quarry
Kanada quarry is currently being used as a dump for wastes left from production of building materials. Materials for the production are being brought here from neighboring active quarries.
Mala Amerika
Malá Amerika – a flooded quarry, that attracts many visitors during summer. Some of them are nudists. From here you can see grated holes in the rock walls – these are the windows of the Main Shaft, which connects this quarry with Kanada from one side, and many small quarries from the other.
Holes in the walls of the quarries, collapsed shafts, walled entrances into the tunnels – all this attracts countless adventure seekers. The Main Shaft leads to many smaller shafts, which are blocked with debris or have collapsed. And in one of such shafts, hobbyists have dug a large passageway through the debris. That must have taken them hundreds of hours of work, for which they certainly haven’t been paid. Curiosity is the ultimate currency for them.
The company that owns the quarries has always been keen on keeping the visitors out of the quarries and the tunnels. They have been blocking the entrances into the tunnels with heavy steel gates, only to find the gates lying flat on the ground or even on the bottom of the flooded quarry. They have been building massive concrete walls only to find them being broken to pieces. There are many constructions of steel bars that block the passageways. Naturally, it wouldn't take long before someone comes with gas cutters or a metal saw and spends hours cutting through these bars.
Smaller quarry covered with forest
And not many of these visitors believe in any treasures or legends. The mysteriousness around the underground world is what attracts them. During WWII there were plans of turning the tunnels into an underground Nazi factory, but these plans had never been realized. Any talks about the opposite are most likely to be just another urban legends. Although there are experts who believe that there is something to be found in this vast system of tunnels and shafts. As not all of these passages have been uncovered and documented, it is possible that there are undiscovered burial sights of workers who died there.
Currently the tunnels are a home to colonies of bats. And thanks to these bats (and the ecologists) Mořina – the owner company – isn’t allowed to blast the entrances into the tunnels, which they would probably be glad to do otherwise. It is strictly forbidden for visitors to descend into the quarries. There are warning signs everywhere threatening visitors with the fines of 15000 crowns (which is about 600 euros). This is done mostly because the owner company might be held accountable for the accidents which might occur here. There are many crosses around the quarries, reminding of those, who have fallen off the edge. In summer, many people go to Malá Amerika to swim in the flooded quarry. And sometimes police, who want to make extra cash on a beautiful summer morning, introduce an exit fee of 2000 crowns (about 80 euros).
Monument to the political prisoners at the top of Mexico quarry
In conclusion let’s talk about Hans Hagen – the legendary phantom of the Amerika’s underground, a character present in every single story of Amerika’s folklore. According to the legend – Hans Hagen – was a German soldier, who sometime at the end of the war was running away from the partisans and found himself hiding in one of the Amerika’s tunnels. As he was trying to find his way out, he happened upon another group of enemies who started shooting at him. He ran to a shaft leading from the tunnel. One of the enemies threw a grenade in his direction, and the explosion made the shaft collapse. Hagen soon found that the shaft was a dead end, and that there was no way out. He had a pistol. He didn’t know that his name will not disappear with him.