Rudné doly na Bludné Mine

Welcome to the Delight. You're standing right where nature meets a deep trail of human labor. Before you go any further, stop for a moment and look around. In front of you is the vast landscape of the Ernest Mountains, which is not what you might expect. This area is not just a quiet mountain storm, but a living, deeply-groomed witness of the ancient era. What you see before you - the unusual shapes in the earth, the marks that look like wounds in the earth's body - are not the work of random natural processes. It is the consequences of centuries of efforts by people who have tried to exploit treasures hidden deep beneath your feet. Feel this atmosphere, feel this space, which is the lining of mountainous terrain and monumental work of man.

This area, which you are now admiring, is an extensive installation area, which is now considered one of the most important evidence of historical mining in our countries. This whole story, which you read here in the form of landscape shapes, began long ago, in the 14th century. That's when the first steps of the miners who sought tin and iron began. At that time, these two metals were a fundamental pillar of everything humanity needed for its development. If you look at the history of this place, you will see that the mining activity here lasted incredibly long, from the Middle Ages to the early 20th century. The greatest blossom, when everything revolved around tin mining, occurred in the 16th century. This was the time when this mountain became a true centre of economic importance, a place where wealth was created and various cultures and knowledge were met.

Now pay attention to what you see right around you. Although these are not buildings made of stone or wood that you would find in the city, this entire area is essentially a huge architectural structure created directly in the country. This architecture is made up of a complex of surface rigs, stacks and rolls. Notice the shapes in the field. The hills are the long, narrow passages that plunged into the inside of the mountain, while the rocks are the rubble that the miners cleaned out to get to the pure ore. You can also see the specific shapes that form various strokes and surface formations. This whole system is not chaotic, it is an organized system that had to be planned precisely in order for mining to be safe and efficient. Every groove, every hill of unclean red has its purpose and its place in this huge metal-mining machine.

When we look at the timeline of this place, we come across several key moments that defined the life of the people here. Let's go back to the year one thousand thirty-one. In that year, for the first time in written records, there is a reference to the fact that the mining was granted here to the miners of neighbouring Saxony. This tells us how important this area was also for neighbouring countries and how it attracted experts and experienced men who came up with new techniques and knowledge. The mining communities were very strong here and their traditions carried from generation to generation. Another important point is the year of the thousand and seventeen. This year, mining in one of the important places at the Zuzana mine ended. This was the symbolic end of an era, when it gradually began to say goodbye to mining in this area. But this whole process lasted until the First World War, when the world around it changed and old mining methods were no longer possible.

But in order to understand better how this environment was actually being worked, we need to immerse ourselves in the world of the then miners. They had their own very specific language that was closely linked to what they saw in the darkness underground. Imagine the miner looking into the ore vein that appeared before him. If this ore was oriented vertically, that is, perpendicular to the ground, they called it false. However, if the ore floated horizontally in the ground as if it were spilling in it, they used the name of the abdomen for it. This way of naming shows us how much these people were in contact with the material they were mining, and how much they had to understand every detail of the structure of the country to know where to go next. It was a dangerous, difficult and exhausting profession that required not only strength, but incredible intuition.

There's one other thing that might interest you. This area is not just a historic place, it is a place that has its special status today. Since the year two thousand thirty-three, this whole area has been declared a cultural monument to the Czech Republic. This means that everything you see - every dimple, every roll and every groove in the ground - is protected as an untouchable legacy of our ancestors. It is a monument to human efforts that have shaped the landscape for hundreds of years. This protection allows us to go through this history today and to perceive it in its entirety without destroying it.

Now I want to invite you to move on. Let yourself drift through this landscape and try to find traces of those who worked here before you in every part of the country. Look at the shapes, feel the silence that exists here today, and remember the noise of the hammers and the rusting of the ore that used to be a common sound. Delusion has many secrets to you, and every journey can lead you to rediscover this unusual place. Thank you for choosing to make this journey with us. Let's take a pleasant walk through history.