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Saint John under the Rock

23.1.2024 Automatically translated. Original language: czech

St. Jan pod Skalou is a very visited picturesque place associated with the beginnings of Christianity and the legend of St. John. However, fossil collectors will also find something to do here. There is a bus to the village, or we can come by train to Vráž u Beroun and follow the yellow tourist sign for a beautiful walk to Svaté Jan pod Skalou.

The cross and the view point on the Marble
A limestone rock with a dominant cross towers above the Benedictine monastery. It can be reached quite easily along the marked path and the view of the entire village is beautiful. Personally, I also recommend the less frequented lookout point at Mramora, which is on the rock opposite and from which you can see both the monastery and the rock with the cross.

Solvay quarries
On the way to the cross, we can turn and follow the marked path to the open-air museum of Solvay quarries. In the popular open-air museum, we can find, for example, a field quarry track with a gauge of 600 mm, which visitors can ride as part of the tour, as well as an underground tunnel. Boards and exhibits introduce us to the way limestone is mined, transported and processed.

Where Saint Ivan stayed
The legend of the hermit Ivan, who lived in the place of today's monastery in a cave, dates back to the 10th century. In the underground monastery, you can visit its cave, which is also very important from the point of view of geological development, because it is made of so-called travertine.

Petrified leaves in travertine
Behind the monastery on the right by the spring of water, let's notice a gray-white rock made of travertine or pumice stone. It is a freshwater limestone formed here 3-8 thousand years ago. The karst spring created a 70 m long, 80 m wide and up to 17 m high cascade when it erupted. Paleontologists discovered 50 species of molluscs (mainly snails) and leaf fossils in the travertine.

Primordial volcanoes
The surroundings of the village of Svatý Jan pod Skalou was a very active volcanic area in the Silurian period, and all the black or black-green blocks of rock in the cladding of houses or cemetery walls are the remains of the long-solidified lava of the so-called "Svatý Jan Volcanic Center".

Trilobites at the Power Plant
The most significant site of 430 million year old fossils is the legendary site "at the Power Plant". At the end of the village in the direction of Loděnice, we turn left into the forest following the yellow sign. After about 200 m we will notice the rubble fields on the slope to the left. Trilobites, brachiopods and cephalopods will soon be found in limestones mixed with volcanic dust and ash.

Author: Ekologické centrum Orlov
Tags: Europe Czech Republic