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1. 7. 2007 The entrance to the cave was found under the courtyard of the castle
Categories: Castles, strongholds and extinct places , Finds and rescue research in the Czech Republic , Calendar
All it took was a strong storm and the cavers had their hands full. Fourteen years ago, the courtyard of the castle in Mikulov collapsed. Experts subsequently discovered that there was a cave leading all the way under the castle itself.
Initially, the administrators thought that it was just a crack in the pavement of the courtyard, which could only be filled in with wheels of dirt. But the hole kept widening. "As soon as we touched it, everything started to slide down and soon there was a huge hole. We called the local cavers, they are real enthusiasts who came immediately," said Jan Ivicic, the castle manager at the time.
The collapse of the soil was apparently caused by water. It had been washing out the gravel embankment for some time and flushing it down. "It is a cave area and the rain washed the gravel and sand layers into the cave. The heavy downpour then finished the job," said Petr Kubín, director of the Regional Museum in Mikulov. Fortunately, he said, there was no threat of damage to the castle's structure.
Speleologists arrived at the site and examined the fissure. They found that it was under the castle and in the back part it extended into a ten-metre high, fifteen-metre long and two-metre wide hall. At the time, the speleologist Jiří Kolařík commented on the discovery.
"We removed one of the caves and got into a twelve-metre chasm, which was closed again by a cave-in at the bottom," Kolařík revealed, adding that the chasm apparently goes about twelve metres deeper.
Photogallery .
Speleologists had to be really careful because the entrance to the cave was dangerous and unstable. The soil was only holding on to the pipes. The whole underground was unexplored at that time and contained cracks that reached to a considerable depth.
The cavers were afraid of breaking the lintel that supported the entrance to the underground. They therefore had to secure the area against further collapse as soon as possible. They also called in a structural engineer. It was estimated that it would cost hundreds of thousands of crowns to ensure safety.
In addition to the cavers, archaeologists also examined the site. They found out what the layers above the cave contained. On their first trip underground, the speleologists discovered the tooth of an animal.
Sources: www.denik.cz, www.novinky.cz
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