Johannes adit

The history of ore mining in the Ore Mountains on both sides of the Czech-Saxon border has lasted for more than 800 years.

One of the most remarkable mining districts in the Czech Republic is skarn Golden Hill district, (formerly Kaff), located in a steep slope above the right bank of the Golden Stream near the border with Germany.

Golden Hill is situated near the famous mountain resort of Bozi Dar, the highest town in Central Europe. Since the 1520s tin, iron, copper, and later also zinc ore have been mined here. The entire hill of Kaff with a myriad of open air mining, heaps, sunk shafts and tunnels retained the authentic character of the historic montane landscape. That is why the area was declared, within the landscape conservation areas, as a protected cultural monument and forms an important part of a joint Czech-German "Mining cultural landscape Erzgebirge / Krusnohori" nomination for inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The largest mine in the district of Golden Hill - Kaff, was the Johannes adit, which was in operation without significant breaks from the 16th century to the 1870s. Even in the 1920s and again between 1950s and 1960s there was a mining exploration conducted. This is an exceptionally well-preserved complex of historical mines where the old miners dug enormous underground chambers, which are rarely seen elsewhere in the world. In this respect, the Johannes adit is absolutely exceptional. Everyone who enters its underground can now explore even these unique chambers, of which the largest one has dimensions of 60 x 20 m and is 10-12 m high. The chambers have been opened to the public by the town of Bozi Dar with the help of a grant from the “Cil 3” Program of the European Union.

Walk through 500 years of mining history in two hours!